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                          THE BROCHURE SERIES
                     Spanish Wrought-Iron Screens
                    XII. Century Capitals from the
                    Benedictine Monastery, Monreale
                              MARCH, 1900


[Illustration: PLATE XIX      SCREEN, ROYAL CHAPEL, GRANADA CATHEDRAL]




                                  THE
                            BROCHURE SERIES
                    OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

                     1900.      MARCH      No. 3.




                     SPANISH WROUGHT-IRON SCREENS.


From earliest times the numerous iron mines which exist in Spain,
especially in the Cantabrian provinces, have been worked, and their
presence has developed in that country excellent objects of art in
metal at all times; but owing to the perishable character of iron, the
slight intrinsic value of the material, and the little care taken of
such fabrics, examples of very early specimens, with the exception of
a few interesting ones which have reached us from the Spanish Arabs,
have disappeared. The most interesting examples of Moorish manufacture
which have survived are some iron keys of most delicate tracery. Their
perfect state of preservation shows that they were used only as symbols
of cities or fortresses, and, on given occasions, offered to kings or
great people, and even in the present day in Spain this ceremony is
kept up, and a key signifying the freedom of the palace, is offered
to the foreign princes who stay at the royal residence in Madrid.
In a similar manner, as far back as the middle ages, keys have been
presented to Spanish sovereigns on occasions of their visits to such
towns as Toledo and Seville; and a ceremony of swearing them to uphold
the accorded privilege is gone through with,--a reminiscence probably
of what occurred when these towns were conquered from the Moors. One of
these keys at Valencia, belonging to Count de Trignona, measures nine
and-a-half inches long, and was originally gilt. Its handle is closed
and covered with delicate work in relief, and the wards are ornamented
in the same manner with a combination of several words written in
Cufic letters of difficult interpretation; but around the handle we
can read distinctly in arabic the name of the artist: "It was made by
Ahmel Ahsan." This key appears to date from the thirteenth or early
fourteenth century, and two similar ones exist in the Town Hall of
Valencia.

Worthy objects of iron work must have been made by Christian artists of
this period in Spain, for, although no specimens have come down to us,
we have historical information which confirms such a conclusion. In the
ordinances of Barcelona we find it recorded that the iron-smiths formed
an extensive guild in the thirteenth century, and that in 1257 four of
its members were officers of the Chief Municipal Council; and other
similar records substantiate the fact that this guild increased in
importance during the succeeding centuries. The ordinances of Seville
of the fifteenth century, which were reformed in 1502, and those of
Toledo, also revised in 1582, will give the student an idea of what was
done by workers of metals at this period, the method of workmanship
and other interesting details. The ordinances of Seville mention
_rejas_ made in Biscay, and give a good idea of the styles adopted by