Excerpt from Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum: January, 1911 The oldest group of furniture exhibited at present is from Spain and begins with the sixteenth century. The-ceiling of the apartment is copied from the illustration of a Spanish house by an artist known to have made his studies in Spain from original dwellings. The walls are hung with old Spanish leather. In the olden time, the decoration 011 leather was applied on a silvered surface, a fact which today enables experts to detect the genuinely ancient leather from modern imitations. The present specimens used on the walls come from the Netherlands, so long a Spanish dependency, and consist of fifty - three pieces of leather decorated with gold scrolls and colored and embossed flowers and fruits 011 a green ground. There is very little Spanish leather in this country, a fact that adds to the value of this wall covering. In this room stands a fine canopied seat or bench of old walnut, carved in Hispano - Moresque style, with inlays or rude marquetry in the Spanish taste of the period. A superbly carved chest of the seventeenth century, the fine original locks of which are well preserved, is a gift of Mr. John T. Morris, and is one of the most highly prized objects of art in the collection. Indeed, it is easily the finest specimen of its order in this country. The carvings represent warlike scenes from the siege of Granada. Chairs covered with Cordova leather, old Spanish carvings and minor objects complete the furnish ing of the alcove. Of the early seventeenth century, a room has been fitted out with English furniture of the oak period. The idea of the ceiling and the paneling of the walls has been copied from those seen in old English buildings, notably at Haddon Hall, and 111 this room are displayed some ancient carved boak bahuts, chests and chairs of the period. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.