The bronze censer (Fig. 156) of the twelfth century is a good specimen of the architectural design in the Romanesque metal work of this time. The reliquaries are usually of copper-gilt and enamelled, or are occasionally in gold. These objects have been noticed in the chapter on enamels. The larger coffer-shaped ones with sloping roofs are called _châsses_, some of which are six and seven feet in length. Most of them are of copper-gilt and enamelled, and are German work, made for the most part at Cologne and in the Rhenish Provinces, and were generally of Romanesque or Gothic design even up to the sixteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 154.—Lower Boss of the Milan Candlestick; Twelfth Century.] [Illustration: Fig. 155.—Shrine or Reliquary, Copper Gilt; Twelfth Century.] The shrine of St. Sebaldus by Peter Vischer already mentioned is a curious mixture of Gothic and Italian forms. The celebrated shrine or silver reliquary of the Church of Orvieto is made to represent the church itself; it is said to weigh 600 pounds, and is enriched with panels of translucent enamel and small statuettes. It is the finest work of the Italian goldsmith’s art of the fourteenth century, and was made by Ugolino (1338), an artist of Siena. Heads of the croziers and bishops’ pastoral staffs were often designed in elaborate architectural compositions, and generally speaking Gothic ornamentation is enthralled by architectural forms even to the smallest details when the plan of the object to be decorated is architectural, which happens in most cases; when, however, the plan is not so, the freedom and fancy of the designer revelled in the beauty of the curving, twisting, foliage, and grotesque work, as may be seen in the metal work of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Gloucester and Milan candlesticks will afford examples of this. In the twelfth century Limoges was very active in the making of articles for secular purposes as well as for religious uses. Common jewellery of enamelled bronze was exported to all parts, such as brooches or morses, buckles, armour decoration, and monumental plates with effigies, one of the latter being that of Aylmer de Valence in Westminster Abbey, made at Limoges and brought to England. The monastic establishments were the schools and workshops of all the art produced in the Middle Ages, and not only splendid examples of metal work, but manuscript illuminations, wood and stone carving, and many other kinds of works were produced within their walls. After the beginning of the thirteenth century the arts were passing into the hands of the laymen, and artists were at the same time beginning to receive greater encouragement from the patronage of wealthy persons. [Illustration: Fig. 156.—Censer; Twelfth Century.] Almost every kind of article was now made in gold, silver, and bronze, such as cups, jugs, bowls, standing cups, mazer and wassail bowls, articles for the table, such as salt-cellars, ewers, basins, and nefs, etc.