Parasol Handle

Other Notes:

This iron handle is square in section, wide at one end and tapering to about half the size at the other. It abruptly rounds at the small end which accepts the wooden parasol shaft. The handle is damascened overall in two colours of gold. The decoration of each flattened side includes two cartouches with ends imitating lobed arches, which contain the Nasrid motto with some foliate embellishment. At the wider end, beyond the larger cartouche, is half of an eight-pointed star. The square and slightly convex end-cap also contains the Nasrid motto. The angles at the juncture of the flat planes are each decorated with a line of punchmarks. The style of this handle is not represented among surviving Eibar design sheets, although the execution of the ornament and the themes are quite similar to those employed in the immediately preceding pieces. The extant sheets, which appear to date from no later than the 1930s, may simply be too early to reflect the style seen here. There is also a remote possibility that this handle was manufactured in Toledo, since at such a late date some styles in the two centres had become indistinguishable.