The word guadamecil applied to this leather comes from the village of _Ghadames_ in Africa, celebrated from the 12th century for this industry. It was imported by the Moors into Spain, and Cordova became from the beginning of the Middle Ages the great centre of this production, although other towns, such as Seville, Granada, Toledo, and Barcelona, exported these leathers also. The chronicler Ambrosio de Morales, in his "Las Antiguedades de las ciudades de España," Alcala, 1575, says, p. 10, "A great commerce is produced by the exportation of skins, and many have been enriched by it, those prepared at Cordova are so excellent, that now in Spain any goat hide prepared in any locality is called Cordovan. Guadameciles are made of leather, and are so well fashioned in Cordova that none can compete with them; they are exported to the Indies and all Europe. They produce much for the town, and beautify the principal streets, for the hides are hung out to dry after they are painted and gilt, and it is a fine sight to see the walls covered with such variety of colour and form." A good collection of these guadameciles is in the South Kensington Museum. See Nos. 471 to 485, '69, and 1651 to 1654, '71. At the end of the 17th and first half of the 18th century, the Baroque or Churrigueresque architecture had such influence over furniture, that although exaggerated examples were very common, they reached in no country to such a pitch as they did in Spain. As specimens, the enormous _retablos_ over the high altars made of gilt carved wood may be mentioned, which are so frequently to be seen in Spanish churches. The exuberance of uncouth heavy ornamentation destroys the regularity and harmony of the general effect. Chairs and tables were made then in the same style, and the _cornucopias_ or decorated mirrors which adorn Spanish churches and sacristy, belong to this period. The name of _cornucopia_ was given in allusion to the horn of abundance.