In all cases of difference adopt Signor Riano's view: Collecting Spanish decorative arts at South Kensington in the late nineteenth century

Abstract

Juan Facundo Riaño (1829–1901), an eminent Spanish scholar, administrator and politician, was appointed as adviser to the South Kensington Museum on the acquisition of Spanish works of art in 1870. He sent monthly reports to the Museum authorities from 1871 to 1877, noting items for sale in Madrid and elsewhere in Spain. As well as recommending purchases of plaster casts and photographs, he was responsible for a number of important acquisitions, particularly in the field of the decorative arts, such as textiles, ceramics and glass, jewels from the shrine at Zaragoza, and a highly important tenth-century ivory casket from Córdoba.