Under the influence of the Renaissance this love of luxury continued to increase among the royal and the noble families of Spain. In 1574 an inventory of the estate of Doña Juana, sister of Philip the Second, mentions a silver balustrade, weighing one hundred and twenty-one pounds, for placing round a bed. The inventory (1560) of the Dukes of Alburquerque contains a great variety of entries relative to the furniture and chamber-fittings of the period. We find here mentioned, Turkey carpets and the celebrated Spanish ones of Alcaraz, linens of Rouen, green cloth of Cuenca, Toledo cloths, hangings of Arras and elsewhere, tablecovers of damask and of velvet, gold-fringed canopies (_doseles_) of green or crimson velvet or brocade, a "canopy for a sideboard, of red and yellow Toledo cloth, with the arms of the La Cuevas in embroidery, together with stripes and bows, and repetitions of the letter I (for _Isabel Giron_, the duchess), also embroidered fringes of the same cloth, and cords of the aforesaid colours." We also read of a _sitial_ or state-chair of crimson satin brocade, and "a small walnut table covered with silver plates, bearing the arms of my lord the duke and of my lady the duchess, and edged with silver stripes."[9] The bedstead, fitted with hangings of double taffeta and scarlet cloth, was no less sumptuous than the other objects. [9] This kind of furniture was prohibited by a sumptuary pragmatic of 1594. "No silversmith or other craftsman, or any person whatsoever, shall make, or cause to be made, or sold, or sell himself or purchase, whether openly or privately, buffets, writing-desks, chests, brasiers, pattens, tables, letter-cases, _rejillas_ or foot-warmers, images, or any other object that has silver fittings, whether the silver be beaten, stamped, wrought in relief, carved, or plain." _Suma de todas las leyes_ (A.D. 1628), p. 42. [Illustration: I MEDIÆVAL CHAIR (_Carved with the arms of Castile and León_)] A popular and even an indispensable piece of furniture in every mediæval Spanish household was the _caja de novia_ or "bride's chest." The use of this, as well as of a smaller kind of box, was common both to Moors and Christians. No matter of what size, these objects were essentially the same. They served innumerable purposes; were made of all dimensions--from the tiniest casket (_arcellina_, _capsula_, or _pyxide_; see vol. i., p. 45 _et seq._) to the ponderous and vast _arcón_,--and almost any substance--ivory or crystal, mother-of-pearl or glass, gold, silver, copper, silver-gilt, jasper, agate, or fine wood; and we find them in every part of the Peninsula, from the dawn of the Middle Ages till very nearly the end of the eighteenth century. [Illustration: II GOTHIC CHAIR (_15th Century_)]