Home › Ecclesiastical › Ecclesiastical: Cathedral

Ecclesiastical: Cathedral

The most remarkable works of the jeweller's art in connection with religious usages are more rare in France than in Germany or Italy; as, for instance, the great chalice of Weingartein, in Suabia, made by Conrad de Husse; the beautiful cross enriched with precious stones at Ratisbonne; the magnificent chalice at Mayence; the chasse given by Frederick Barbarossa to Cologne Cathedral; the chasse of the Three Kings in the same; the golden altar in the chapel of the King at Munich; the famous censer, in the form of a circular chapel, at the Vatican; besides other rich objects in the churches of Italy. Spain, as might be expected, was particularly rich in ecclesiastical ornaments of the jeweller's art, but wars and insurrections have despoiled the churches of their vast wealth. Still there are splendid relics remaining. Among the treasures in the Cathedral of Seville are the cross made of gold which Columbus brought from America, and presented to the king; also two ostensorios of the fifteenth century, covered with precious stones and magnificent pearls; wonderful vestments, heavy with embroidery and seed-pearls; the crown of Ferdinand; and a magnificent tabernacle altar-front, angels, and candlesticks, all in solid silver, beautiful in workmanship and design. The Royal Chapel at Seville contains the body of King Ferdinand, the conqueror of Seville, in a magnificent silver shrine, with his banner, crown, and sword; a curious wooden statue of the Virgin, adorned by King Ferdinand with a crown of emeralds and a stomacher of diamonds, belonging to his mother Berangera, given on the condition that they should never be removed from the image. The Cathedral of Seville possessed immense treasures in jewels. A vast amount of gold and precious stones was deposited there by Catholics during the period in which all the wealth of a newly-discovered world by Columbus flowed into this city. The Church of the Escurial abounded in precious stones; it has been asserted that a single press in the sacristy surpassed in riches the famous treasury of St. Mark at Venice.

In the sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo is an exquisite tabernacle of gold brought from America by Columbus, incensories, chalices, crosses, and reliquaries, in gold and enamel, enriched with jewels. The robes, mantles, and ornaments of the statue of the Virgin are encrusted with pearls and jewels. This church eclipsed the Sainte Chapelle at Paris in the splendour of its shrines. Colmenar, who visited it in 1697, describes them as covered with precious stones. The treasury, containing fourteen or fifteen large cabinets, had an amount of wealth incalculable, including two gold mitres, studded thickly with pearls and precious stones, two bracelets, and a crown of the Virgin enriched with large diamonds and other gems, with a large quantity of pearls of immense size. The Virgin was seated on a rock which was covered with jewels, amongst which was a diamond as large as a pigeon's egg. The French, in 1809, completed the spoliation of these riches.

The Cathedral of Zaragoza has been more fortunate in the preservation of some portion of the riches of the jeweller's art. Here are still the most exquisite reliquaries in pearl, precious stones, and enamel; magnificent necklaces; ear-rings with gigantic pearls; coronets of diamonds; lockets; pictures set in jewels; in fact, everything which is most valuable and beautiful has been lavished on this shrine. In the sacristy of the cathedral, called the "Seo," are a magnificent ostensorium, with an emerald and pearl cross; another ornamented with diamonds, etc.

A collection of jewels, purchased from the treasury of the Virgen del Pilar, at Zaragoza, exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, comprise some splendid specimens of early Spanish jewellery; among them a gold pendant ornament, with a beautiful enamelled group of the Adoration of the Magi, set with diamonds; a reliquary of rock crystal, mounted in gold enriched with enamel and pearls, containing two exquisite enamel groups of the Crucifixion and the Virgin and Child, presented by Louis XIII. of France to the treasury; a magnificent specimen of cinque-cento work, consisting of a gold pendant in the form of a pelican and her young, enriched with a carbuncle and pearls; two enamelled pendant ornaments of dogs, supported on scrolls, with pearls and finely-enamelled chains, enriched with precious stones; three representations, in richly-enamelled gold, of the Virgen del Pilar, as the statue has appeared at different periods. They are set with rubies and emeralds. A costly pectoral ornament of gold, open-work scrolls, set all over with fine emeralds. In the "Autobiography" of Miss Knight, lady companion to the Princess Charlotte, describing a ceremony at St. Peter's, at Rome, in 1780, she says that the statue of the saint was dressed in gold stuff, with a ring on its finger, rare jewels on its breast, and a tiara on its head. Lady Herbert, in her "Impressions of Spain," describes the famous Lady of Atocha as a black image, but almost invisible from the gorgeous jewels and dresses with which it is adorned.

The ex-Queen Isabella, some little time before her flight from Spain, gave to "Our Lady of Atocha" a robe worth, it is said, pound 30,000. The image was invisible for some time, as some one took a fancy to one of the many jewels which adorned this robe; and the priests, seeing that her ladyship could not take care of herself, put her under lock and key. [The King of Spain has decided on having an immense basilica raised over the remains of Queen Mercedes. A sum of 1,000,000 reals will annually be deducted from the civil list for its construction, until the building is complete. The ex-Queen Isabella of Spain has furthered the project by handing over for the purpose the diamonds and jewels deposited in the Cathedral of Atocha, which belong to her, and represent a sum of 15,000,000 reals, more than 3,000,000 francs. Such is the on dit of the newspapers.] In the Church of St. Laurence, at Florence, is the mausoleum of the Medici family. The bodies of the princes are in a subterranean chapel. The splendour of this mausoleum consists in its being entirely encrusted with the rarest and most beautiful marbles, wrought and inlaid in the highest perfection. The sarcophagi are formed of Egyptian and Oriental granite, with the green jasper of Corsica, and surmounted by cushions inlaid with precious stones, and interspersed by crowns and jewels. In the large and precious slabs of jasper, verd-antique, lapis-lazuli, Oriental alabaster, and Spanish coral, are introduced the armorial distinctions of the various cities of Tuscany, exquisitely wrought. The funereal urns are inlaid and enriched with mother-of-pearl, jauneantique, porphyry, green jasper, etc. In the Church of Loretto, in what is termed La Santa Casa, are figures of the Virgin and Child, in costly robes, and covered with a profusion of jewels; on their heads are rich crowns. The infant Jesus displays a sumptuous ring on his finger, while the Virgin is resplendent, from the diadem on her brow to the hem of her robe, and jewels of every description, asserted to be of inestimable value; but a large number were swept away by the French, at the invasion. The treasury of this church was once of dazzling beauty and costliness. Lamps, censers, statues, chalices, vases of gold and silver, jewels, gems, robes, pictures, mosaics, the gifts and ex-voto offerings of nobles and crowned heads, here abounded. Of their splendour there are yet some remains.