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Fig. 1301. Shield
Made for Charles V of Spain, about 1540. D 63, Royal Armoury, Madrid
of casting in malleable iron. This was done in the past by special official permission. It has also been in actual embossing correctly copied by hand by such artificers as Gaggini of Milan, and by less well-known metal workers. Often the famous inscription which appears on the original shield, PLUS ULTRA, has been suppressed, and other minor details have been modified. The original shield is splendid from the effect of the figure composition, on which the richness of the whole relies; for the very simple method of its production is remarkable. Forged from one piece of iron, somewhat convex, it was originally of russet colour. Cleaning has now given it a bright steel shade, and its motifs of figure subjects, fully gilt, stand out not so much on account of their colour, as by reason of the masterly treatment of the embossing and chasing. Controversy has often arisen as to the proper interpretation and emblematical meaning of the figure subjects represented; but it is now generally recognized that the late Count de Valencia has given the only convincing reading of them. In the Inventario Iluminado this shield does not figure amongst the eight grouped together in one plate which are described as Doze rodelas; but it must have been among the twelve referred to, seeing that the Relación de Valladolid, in speaking of the twelve shields, describes one as "a buckler of steel, engraved
