Maiolica: a historical treatise on the glazed and enamelled earthenwares of Italy, with marks and monograms, also some notice of the Persian, Damascus, Rhodian, and Hispano-Moresque wares

Front matter

Bonbon

Ajien Corner, E C.

GUBBIO : M. GIORGIO AND NICOLO DA URBINO

Part 1 Vaub

II. Modes of Productio.n, &c. 46-68

III. Collections 69-77

I. WARES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN

A. Siliceous Glazi d. . 79-94

Persian, Damascus, and Rhodian Wares .... 80-85 Persian, 85: Siculo-Arabian, 89: Damascus, 91 : Anatolian, 92: Rhodian, 93.

B. Stanniferous Glazed.

I IlSl'ANO-MoRESQl'E 95-115

Malaga, 99: Majorca, 101 : Valencia, 103: Maniscs, 106: Various, to8, ct stcj. : Siculo-Morcsqui, 114.

II. EUROPEAN WARES

A. Plumbeous ok Li.ad Gla/i d'.

B. Stanniferous or Enamelled W.\res.

riALlAN WARES Sgraffiati, &c 116-120

Painted Wares : —

Chap. I. Tuscany 121-139

Florence, 121 : Delia Robbia, 123: CafTagi^iolo, 124: Siena, 133: Pisa, 138: Asciano, 139: Monte Lupo, 139.

' Mczza inaiolica is classed in sequence of local production with the tin-glazed wares.

xu

CLASSIFIED CONTENTS

III. Page

Duchy of Urbino • • • • • Pesaro, 140: Gubbio, 156: S. Natoia, 17° : Gualdo, 172 Castel Durante, 173: Urbino, 188 : Cittadi Castello, 224: Borgo San Sepolcro, 224: San Quirico d'Orcia, 224.

„ . . 226-244

Diruta, 226 : Bagnorea, 235 = Fabriano, 236 : Foligno, 237 : Spello, 237 : La Fratta, 237 : Viterbo, 238 : Loreto, 238 : Rome, 239.

24'^-283

IV The Marches +00

Faenza, 245: Forli, 270: Rimini, 280: Ravenna, 281: Bologna, 282: I mola, 283.

„ . . 284-294

V. Northern Duchies t

Ferrara, 284 : Este, 291 : Modena, 292 ; Sassuolo, 292 ; Regg'io, 293; Scandiano, 293; S. Possidonio, 293: Mantua, 294.

VI. Venetian States o o

Venice, 295: Treviso, 305: Bassano, 306: Nove, 308: Padua, 309: Candiana, 311 : Verona, 312.

VII. Lombardy, Piedmont, and States of Genoa . . . 314-331

Milan, 314 : Lodi, 316 : Pavia, 317 : Turin, 322 : Albissola, 323 : Vinova, 325 : Vische, 325 : Mondovi, 326 : Pollenzo, 326 : Genoa, 327 : Savona, 328.

VIII. Neapolitan States • • ' 332-344

Naples, 332 : Castelli, 336 : Palermo, 341 : Caltagirone, 341 : Saracenic Potters in Southern Italy, 342: Minor Fabriques, 343.

IX. Local Italian Potteries of Minor Importance . . 345-349

X. Literature 35° 357

CLASSIFIED CONTENTS

Xlll

P A R T II MARKS AND MONOGRAMS

p.ir.E

Sgraffiati 12

Caffaggiolo, 2 : Monte, 16: Siena, 16: Pisa, 18: Monteliipo. 18: Asciano, 20.

Pesaro, 20 : Giibbio, 26: Castel Durante, 49: Urbino, 54 : Borgo San Sepolcro, 76 : San Quirico, 76.

Statf.s of the Church 77-87

Diruta, 77: Bagnorca, 84 : Fabriano, 84: Vitcrbo, 85 : Rome, 86.

I iii: Marches 88-122

Faenza, 88 : Forli, 116 : Ravenna, 121 : Fcrrara, 121 : Rimini, 122.

Venice, 123: Treviso, 130: Bassano, 130: Nove, 131: Padua, 132: Candiana, 135: Verona, 136.

LoM hardy 136-138

Turin, 138: Vinovo, 139: Moiulovi, \ \o.

Naples, 144: Palermo, 146: Castelli, 146.

Uncertain Marks and Monograms on Pieces unknown or insufficiently DESCRIBED I49-I54

Additional Works consulted or referred to .... 162-167

General Index 169-189

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

GuBBio, M. Giorgio, and Nicolo da Urbino. (Catalogue

No. C. 431) Frontispiece

I. Ewer of Medici Porcelain. Circa 1582. (No. 298) . . 45

II. Flask. Persian Lustred Ware. Late sixteenth or early

seventeenth century. (No. 30T) . . . . . . 85

Plate. Persian Lustred Ware. Late sixteenth or early

seventeenth century. (No. 302) ...... 85

III. Basin. Persian Translucent ('Gombron'?) Ware. Seven-

teenth century. (No. 310) 91

Tazza. Damascus Ware. Sixteenth century. (No. 314)

IV. Jug. Damascus Ware. Sixteenth century. (No. 315) . . 93 Plate. Kutaya Ware. Sixteenth century. (No. 319) . . 93

V. Candlestick. Rhodian. Sixteenth century. (No. 326) . . 95 Circular Dish. Rhodian. Sixteenth century. (No. 320) . 95

VI. Circular Dish. HisrANO-MoRESouE. Fifteenth or early sixteenth century. (No. 331) ....... 103

Ewer. Hispano-Moresoue. Fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

VII. Plateau. Sgraffiato Ware. Fifteenth or early sixteenth

Plateau with raised Central Flower. Fifteenth or early sixteenth century. (No. 402) .119

VIII. Plate. Caffaggiolo or Faenza. Sixteenth century. (No. 409) . 124 Plateau. Caffaggiolo. Early sixteenth century. (No. 407) . 124

IX. Bust of St. John. Caffaggiolo. Sixteenth century. (No. 408) . 129 Jug with Arms of the Alessandro degli Alessandri Family.

Caffaggiolo. Sixteenth century. (No. 405) .... 129

LIS I OF ILLL ST RATIONS xv

PI.AIE TO PACE PAGE

X, Plateau. Mutius Scaevola, '/// Ga/zW/zo ,Vt'//rt«o, 1547.' (No. 410) 131 Plate. The Creation of Eve. By Ferd. Maria Campani.

XI. Tazza. The Creation of Animals. Lanfraiico. Pcsaro, 154.0.

Circular Dish. Lanfranco of Pesaro. O'm/ 1544. (No. 420) . 148

XII. Plateau. Gubbio, Early sixteenth century. (No. 426) . . 162 Tazza. Hercules and the Hydra. By M. Giorgio. C/'/ra 15 15.

XIII. Tazza. Head ok a Saint. M. Giorgio. Gubbio, dated 1520.

Tazza. The Young St. John. Gubbio. Circa 1536. (No. 435) 166

XIV^ Plate. The Calumny of Apelles. Ascribed to Nicolo Pelii-

Tazza. Tiberius receiving Tribute. By Nicolo da Urbino.

X\'. Tazza. The Flight into Egypt. Inscvihcd ' in Cash/ Diiraii/c,

Plate. I Iercui.es and the Hydra. Signed ' In bo/cga di Af. Ciiido

Dtiraiiliiio in Crhiiio, 1535.' (No. 508) 184

XVT. Plate. The Bull of Perillus. Ascribed to Orazio Fontana.

Circular Dish. The Flight of Xerxes. Signed ^ j^" 1537.

By Fr. Xanto. (No. 448) 214

XVH. Plate. St. John at Patmos. Urbino. Circa 1550. (No. 455) 220 Basin, By Alfonzo Patanazzi. Urbino, Circa 1590, (No. 460 220

X\T11. Vase. Casa Pirota. Faenza. O'm/ 1520. (No, 476) , . 259 Plate. Shield of Arms of (?) Altoviti and Soderini. Casa

XIX. CuiMD RIDING A I loiiBv-HuKSE. Facuza. Circa i^'20. (No. 515) 264 Tazza. The Triumph of Time. Signed ' lialdasara Maiiara

XX. Tazza. Dance of Cupids. After tlic jirinl by Marc Antonio (Bartsch, 217), but altered in the background. Faenza or

Castel Durante. Circa 1525. (No. 486) 267

XXI. \'ase. Grotesques. 'Ry ' M. Dionicdc Dnranti in Roma M 1) C

Circular Dish. A Mikm.md. X'cnice, dated i6 Oct. 1540.

ERRATA AND CORRIGENDA

PART I.

P. 35, 1. 4 from bottom : for Palimpario nad Pellipario. P. 48, !. 2 from bottom : for Pietro Gay read Pietro Gai.

P. 71. At Pesaro the Mazza Collection is now the property of the Municipio, by whom it was purchased from the Hospital.

P. 183, 1. II from bottom : for is of read may be.

Monte Lupo. In a inventory of objects belonging to Lorenzo de' Medici at his death in 1492 we find ' Quattro infrescatoi' ^ Due alberelli grandi,' ^ pin piattelli, scodelle, scodellim, et altri vasetti, titite le dette stoviglie soiio di terra, lavorate a Montelupo, bellaj. 4.'

Part II. Mark.s

Urbino. On a tazza in Mr. Salting's Collection, ' 1543 la niorte di Pelio ■ in Urbino ■ Pi'

The capital letter • F • is on a plate ; architecture and a coat of arms ; in the collection

of Mr. H. A. Neck. Is ascribed by Chaffers.

Faenza. The wing of a bird (?) on a tazza, inscribed ^ Nero die fa barrare la inadre!

Ascribed by Chaffers to Faenza, by Mrs. Palliser to Urbino. A man's bust in profile, beneath which is a label inscribed but illegible, and above

Mcccccxxxv. Christ rising from the tomb. Soltykoff Collection. Chaffers. The capital letters N R are on a fine plate in the Campana Collection, Neptune.

Chaffers.

We do not know these pieces.

Venice. On a plate in the Davillier Collection the Mark No. 422 is developed into a garofalo flower, the letters A and F being formed by the leaflets.

A TRKATIS1-: ON

I N T ROD U C T I O N

CHAPTER I Historical Notici:'

T^ROM a very remote period of human existence, anterior to all record, except that afforded by the stone implement, the primitive ornaments of teeth and shells, and the rudely formed and ill-baked crocks that accompany the buried bones of the dead, the potter's art declares itself as one of the earliest and most required by prehistoric man. At first but rude and sun-dried or ill-baked vessels of coarse clay, occasionally ornamented with concentric and transverse scratches, they gradually developed to the exquisite forms and decoration of the Greek vases ; but it would seem probable that, however universal the production of vessels of baked clay, the art of applying a vitreous covering or glaze was an invention which emanated from the East, from Egypt or from India, Babylon, or Assyria.

It is true that on the Greek, Etruscan, and some Roman pottery a subdued and hardly apparent glazing was applied to the surface of the

' This notice is in great part a reprint of South Kensington Museum, but with correcthat in our Catalogue of the Maiolica in tlie tions and additions derived from new lights.

pieces, but it is so slight as to leave a barely appreciable effect upon the eye, beyond that which might be produced by a mechanical polish, and so thinly laid on as almost to defy attempts at proving its nature by chemical investigation ; it is, however, supposed to have been produced by a dilute aluminous soda glass \ without any trace of lead in its composition, the greater portion of which was absorbed into the substance of the piece, thereby increasing its hardness and leaving only a faint polish on the surface of the ware.

Of such is that numerous class of potteries, among which will be found the elegant productions of Greece and of Italy in Etruscan and Roman times; but with these we are not now occupied^.

In Egypt and the East the use of a distinct glaze {invetriatiira of the Italians), covering the otherwise more porous substance of the vessel, appears to have been known, and to have arrived at great perfection at a very remote period. It was, in fact, a superior ware, equivalent to the porcelain of our days, and from the technical excellence of some of the smaller pieces has been frequently, but wrongly, so called.

It will, perhaps, be as well, before entering further into the consideration of the subject, to define and arrange the objects of our attention under general heads.

Pottery {Faycnce. Terraglia), as distinct from porcelain, is formed of potter's clay mixed with marl of argillaceous and calcareous nature {argile-snblciise ou calcarifere) and sand variously proportioned, and may be classed under two divisions : Soft {Faycnce a pate tendre), and Hard {Fayence a pate dure) according to the nature of the composition, or the degree of heat under which it has been fired in the kiln.

What is known generally in England as earthenware is soft, whilst stone ware, queen's ware, &c. are hard.

The characteristics of the soft wares are a paste or body which may be scratched with a knife or file, and fusibility, generally, at the heat of a porcelain furnace.

' History of Ancient Pottery, by Samuel Catalogue of the Greelc Vases in the Birch, F.S.A., London, 1858, i. p. 24; ii. Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, by Pro- Appendix, p. 402. fessor Percy Gardner, Litt. D. fol. Oxon. We may here refer to the valuable 1893.

These soft wares may be again classified under four subdivisions : —

1. Unglazed {matles).

2. Lustrous (litsirees).

3. Glazed {veriiissees).

4. Enami:i.led {cmaille'es).

Among the first three of these subdivisions may be arranged all the ancient pottery of Egypt, Greece, Etruria, and Rome ; as also the larger portion of that in general use among all nations during mediaeval and modern times. We have already alluded to the first two, but it is with the glazed and the enamelled wares that we shall be occupied, namely, with subdivisions

3. Glazed {vcniissc'cs), which may be again divided into —

Section A. Vitreous, or Glass Glazed {si/ ice uses). ,, B. Plumbeous, or Lead Glazed (plonibifircs).

4. Enameli,ed [nnaillc'cs), or Tin Glazed (slantiifiTcs).

Although this may be accepted as a fundamental classification of the wares, we sliall find that modifications occasionally occur, where a certain amount of the tin oxide is used, both witli the siliceous and the plumbeous glazing.

In these subdivisions the foundation is in all cases the same, the mi.xed clay or 'paste,' or 'body,' varied in composition according to the nature of the glaze to be superimposed, is formed by the hand, or on the wheel, or impressed into moulds, then slowly dried antl baked in a fiirnace or stove, after which, on cooling, it is in a state to receive the glaze. This is prepared by fusing sand or other siliceous material with potash or soda, to form a translucent glass, the composition, in the main, of the glaze upon the wares under Section A. The addition of a varying but considerable ([uantity of the oxide of lead, by whicli it is rendered more easily fusible, but still translucent, constitutes the glaze of Section B, whereas the further addition of the oxide of tin produces an enamel of an opaque white of great purity, and is the characteristic glazing of the wares under subdivision 4. In either case the vitreous substance

B 2 is reduced to the finest powder by mechanical and other means, being milled with water to the consistency of a cream ; into this the dry and absorbent baked piece is dipped and withdrawn, leaving a coating of the material of the bath adhering to its surface. A second firing, when quite dry, fuses this coating into a glazed surface on the piece, rendering it lustrous and impermeable to liquids. The two former of these glazes may be variously coloured by the admixture of metallic oxides, as copper for green, iron for yellow, &c. ; but it is nevertheless translucent, and shows the natural colour of the baked clay beneath.

Vitreous or Glass-Glazed Wares.

. Of the first (Section A), the vitreous, silico-alkaline, or glass-glazed wares, we have stated that they were of very ancient date, and in all probabihty had their origin in the East, in Egypt, Babylonia, or Phoenicia ; indeed the discovery of glass, which has always been attributed to the latter country, would soon direct the potter's attention to a mode of covering his porous vessel of baked earth with a coating of the new material ; but the ordinary baked clay would not take or hold the glaze, which rose in bubbles, and scaled off, refusing to adhere to the surface, and it became necessary to form the pieces of a mixed material, consisting of much siliceous sand, some aluminous earth, and probably a small portion of alkali, thus rendering it of a nature approximating to that of the glaze, and to which the latter firmly adhered. In some instances, in the finer examples, which may probably have been exposed to a higher temperature in the oven, the glaze and the body of the piece have become so incorporated as to produce a semi-translucent substance, analogous to some artificial porcelains. It has been suggested that occasionally the glaze may have been rendered more fusible by the admixture of a small portion of oxide of lead, but we have the authority of M. Brongniart, and of Dr. Birch, for stating that in Egypt, when this ware was being made in its greatest perfection, the use of lead in glazing seems to have been unknown ^

1 Brongniart, Traite des Arts Ceramiques, 2nd ed., Paris, 1854, i. p. 505. Birch, Ancient Pottery, p. 67.

In its nature this glaze is translucent, and accordingly we find that where ornament is used, the design is executed directly on the 'biscuit' or unglazed surface of the piece, which then receives the vitreous covering, through which it is apparent. By means of an oxide of copper the exquisite turquoise blue, ' scarcely rivalled after thirty centuries of human experience,' was produced The green colour was, perhaps, produced by another oxide of the same metal ; violet by manganese or gold, yellow by silver, or perhaps by iron, and the rarer red by the protoxide of copper. It was brought to its greatest perfection in Egypt, but we also find that bricks and vases similarly glazed were made by the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and Persians. Sir Henry Layard figured examples of moulding for room decorations, and patterns and designs of large size, executed upon glazed bricks or tiles, from the palace at Nimrud, each having its appropriate portion of the figure -, and others bearing inscriptions denoting that 'This is the great palace of " Asaraden-pal ' The magnificent frieze, representing a procession of the royal guards, now preserved in the Louvre, for which Museum it was obtained during his excavation of the great palace at Susa by M. Dieulafoy, is another important example.

Throughout Babylonia the sites of ancient buildings afford fragments of a similarly glazed pottery. Those brought from Borsippa by the Abbe Bcauchamp, in 1790, were analysed by MM. Brongniart and Salvetat, by whom the glaze was found to contain neither the oxides of lead nor tin, but to be an alkaline silicate with alumina, coloured by metallic oxides'*; while a more recent analysis of Assyrian examples, by the late Dr. Percy, shows that with a base of silicate of soda, or soda glass, and oxide of tin, the opaque white has been produced", being the earliest recorded example of 'enamelled' ware, ami one which would be properly classified unde r the fourth subdivision. It would seem, however, that it was thus used as a means of producing a white colour more than as an habitual glazing. The same method was seemingly used at Susa

* Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, fol..

' Layard, ii. p. 180. * Hrongniart, Traitc, ii. pp. 80. 90.

Cat. Mus. Trac. Geology. 8vo. London, 1855- on the guards' frieze above referred to. A small quantity of oxide of lead was also found in the blue glaze on tiles from Babylonia.

The three circular walls of the palace at Babylon were, according to Ctesias, covered with richly coloured representations of the hunting expeditions and battles of Semiramis and Ninuas; and Herodotus tells us that the walls of Ecbatana in Media were painted of seven colours, statements confirmed by the discoveries at Nineveh, and by that of M. Place at Khorsabad, where a wall some five feet in height and twenty long was still standing, faced with glazed bricks representing men, trees, animals, &c. in colour.

At Warka, supposed to be the ancient Ur of the Chaldees \ Mr. Loftus discovered numerous coffins or sarcophagi, piled one upon another to the height of forty-five feet, of peculiar form, and made of terra-cotta glaze.d with a siliceous glaze of bluish-green colour. Formed somewhat like a shoe, an opening is left at the upper and wider end for the insertion of the body, and closed by an oval lid, which, as well as the upper part of the coffin, is ornamented with figures and plants in relief. They are supposed to be of the Sassanian period.

The metallic lustre in decoration was applied apparently at an early period upon pottery glazed with siliceous coating, and appears to have established itself, if it were not invented, as some suppose, in Persia. From fragments found by Mr. Wallis at Fostat, the site of ancient Cairo, where a fabrique seems to have existed of very early time, we are led to believe that this mode of enrichment may have been originally of Egypto-Arabian rather than of Persian origin 2. On specimens from Arabia it is also found, and its use in combination with this glaze seems to have preceded its use on wares coated with the stanniferous enamel, by the potters who accompanied the conquering Arabs into the Balearic Islands, Spain, and Sicily.

In Northern India, at Sind, and in Persia, wares are made at the present day of precisely the same character as the ancient pottery under consideration. Pieces from the former locality are composed of a sandy

' The mounds of Mugheir are now jhe Dawn of Civilization, 1894. believed to be the site of Ur ; Warkh of . h. WalHs. Notes on Early Persian Uruk. For references &c. see Maspero, Lustred Wares.

argillaceous frit, ornamented with pattern in cobalt blue, beneath a siliceous glaze. Indeed their agreement in technical character with some of the pottery of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, and with that produced in Syria and Persia during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, is most remarkable. Persia also produces inferior wares of the same class, which, as well as those from India, are now articles of import into Europe.

This, probably the most ancient mode of glazing, was the parent of all those wares now known as Persian, Damascus, Rhodian, Lindus, &c. ; we shall further follow their history in the introductory notice to those classes of pottery.

Plumbeous or Lead-Glazed Wares.

Of the second section (B) are the silico-plumbeous or lead-glazed wares, the most common, and at the same time, the most widely spread branch of the family in Europe ; indeed throughout the northern and western countries lead, in combination with glass, seems to have been the earliest and perhaps, until the fourteenth century, the only means known of glazing soft pottery.

We have seen that Dr. Percy discovered a certain amount of lead in some of the blue coloured glazes of liabylonia, which he suggests as having 'probably been employed as a flu.v ' ; if so, this might have been the germ of its general adoption for the purpose of producing a more easily fusible, and therefore a more ready and more manageable coating ; but in tlie ICast it does not seem to have supplanted the more elegant and purer siliceous glaze.

Fragments of Graeco-Roman j)ottery from Tarsus, lamps and vessels from the neighbourhood of Naples, and other examples of a highly glazed pottery from various antique sites, which has all the appearance of a plumbeous composition, are preserved in collections; some of these attest a very high degree of excellence in modelling, and in the artistic application of the vitreous coat, which is translucent, of green, brown, yellow, and occasionally of a dull red colour. Of such Nos. 155-156 and 198 of the P^ortnum Collection in the Ashmolean Museum are specimens.

The paste of which these examples are formed is to all appearance an ordinary potter's clay, generally of a buff colour, and in no way similar in character to that of the Egyptian or Assyrian wares, glazed with a true glass; and in these instances the adhesion to the surface, and perfect adaptability of the vitreous coating to the irregularities of the shaped and moulded pieces, prove its affinity for the paste of which they are made, and indirectly, that its composition is not the same as that of the Egyptian or Persian glaze. This inference is corroborated by analysis, which proves that lead oxide was used in its composition.

It is not unlikely that it may have been introduced by Greek potters into Southern Italy. We learn from the monk Theophilus that the art of decorating fictile vessels with vitreous colours was practised by the Byzantine Greeks, who probably carried it into Italy ^. This statement in all probability refers to the lead-glazed wares, and not to the tin enamel, the former of which, as we have seen, was known earlier than his time to the potters of Tarsus, Pompeii, &c. ; and it is reasonable to believe that the art was never lost in Italy, where, from the eighth and ninth centuries, it would appear to have been the only glaze known and in use, until the introduction or discovery of the stanniferous enamel. We find accordingly that the earliest glazed Itahan wares, the sgraffiati, the painted, and the mezza-maioltca, are covered with this description of vitreous surface.

That it had become established in the north of the Peninsula is proved by the fact that a plate dug up at Cividale del Friuh, and now preserved there, is inscribed with Lombard characters scratched upon the glaze {^grafiti sulla vetrina'), and believed by Lazari to be of the eighth century ^.

The researches of the Abbe Cochet at Bouteilles near Dieppe ^ have revealed the fact that glazed pottery was in use in the north of France in the Anglo-Norman period of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. But on the other hand. Professor Argnani is of opinion that there is no evidence of the use of the lead glaze anterior to the twelfth

» Arts of the Middle Ages, ii. eh. i6. - Vin. Lazari, Not. della raccolta Correr. Translated by Robert Hendrie. 8vo. Venice, 1859.

London, 1847. Archaeologia, xxxvi. p. 266,xxxvii.p. 417.

century in northern Italy, when these ' scodcllclti' were produced. Early in 1300 the wares improved, and the use of an engobe of white earth became general. The two colours, yellow from iron, and green from copper, were in use

As before stated, this glaze is composed of silica, with varying proportions of potash or soda and of oxide of lead, by which addition it is rendered more easily fusible, but remains transparent.

To obtain a white surface was, however, desirable, the colour of the paste beneath the glaze being generally of a dull red or buff, and ill adapted as a ground for the display' of coloured ornamentation. To supply this want, before the invention of the tin enamel, an intervening process was adopted. A white argillaceous earth of the nature of pipe-clay was purified and milled with water, and thus applied over the coarser surface of the piece in the same manner as the glaze ; again dried, or slightly fixed by fire, it was ready to receive the translucent coat, through which the white 'slip' or 'engobe' became apparent. It is easy to conceive that by scratching a design or pattern through this white applied surface to the darker clay beneath, before fixing in the fire, a ready mode of decoration presented itself, without the use of colour, to be covered by but visible through the glaze ; hence the early incised or ' sgmffiaio ' ware, one of the primitive modes of decorating glazed pottery.

Churches built at various places in Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries were decorated with discs and ' ciotolc ' of glazed and painted terra-cotta, some of which are ornamented by the ' sgraffiato ' process.

Passeri states - that pottery works existed from the earliest periods in the neighbourhood of Pesaro, as proved by remains of furnaces and fragments of Roman time, and tiles with the stamp of Thcodoric ; that during the dark ages the manufacture was neglected, but that it revived after 1300, and that it then became the fashion in that city to adorn the church towers and facades with discs and 'bacini' of coloured and glazed earthenware ; a practice which had been in use at Pisa and other cities as early as the eleventh or twelfth century. The mythical state-

' F. Argnani, Ccrainichc c Maioliclic - G. Passeri, Istoria dcllc pitturc in Ma- Facntinc, 410, Facnza, 1889, p. 13. joiica fattc in Pesaro. 8vo. Pesaro, 1857.

lO ment that this custom arose from the conquest of the Balearic Islands by the Pisan fleet in 1115, and the use by the Pisans of the prize of Majorcan pottery to adorn their churches in grateful commemoration of the victory, has been proved in the main to be questionable \ no examples of what we know as Moresque ware being traceable in any of the churches of Pisa, Bologna, Rome, or elsewhere. One piece of siliceous glazed Oriental ware was found m situ on a church built in 1107, but all the rest are of coarse native manufacture, ornamented with rude painting in colour or 'sgraffiato' work, and covered with a lead glaze; thus confirming the belief that this kind of ware was produced and in use in various parts of northern and central Italy, perhaps from the eleventh or the twelfth century, and it is fairly presumable that it had never been entirely lost, but, perhaps locally, known from Roman times, and so continuously to the eighth century, the presumed date of the plate found at Friuli. It is needless to say that it has never since been lost.

Of these discs or ^ scodelletti or bacini' with which the fagades and machicolated cornices, as well as the ' campanili,' of many churches in various parts of Italy are decorated, much has been written, and romantic statements have been handed down to account for their origin, more particularly with respect to those on the churches of Pisa, where they are more abundant than in any other city.

It has been supposed by recent writers, that some of these discs at Pavia, and one in the church of Sta Francesca Romana in Rome, are of lustred ware. These were known to and carefully examined by the writer many years since, the conviction on his mind being that the seeming metallic 'reflet' was only the effect of decomposition of the glaze, producing that iridescent effect so often seen on pieces of antique glass.

Sismondi's story of the attack upon Majorca by the Pisan fleet, and its return triumphant about Easter, 11 15, bringing its captive king and a rich booty, among which were dishes of the celebrated Moorish pottery there made, which in pious gratitude the Pisans built into the towers and fagades of their churches, is a pretty myth ; but, on a careful examination, the writer could find no trace of Moorish pottery, nor, with one

' See a paper on this subject by the xlii., in which are designs copied from writer, published in the Archaeologia, vol. some of the Pisan roundels.

II exception, other than a coarsely painted and incised lead-glazed ware\ apparently of native Italian origin. Moreover, it now seems doubtful whether such wares were then produced in the Balearic Islands.

Passed, writing in the last century, states that the Duomo and the churches of S. Agostino and S. Francesco at Pesaro are so ornamented, and at the Badia di Pomposa. Specimens occur also at Sta Maria in Ancona, in Pavia at S. Michele, and also at S. Pietro in Ciel d'oro, at S. Primo, S. Teodoro, and S. Lazzaro, S. Lanfranco and Sta Maria di Betlemme in Borgo Ticino, all churches of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They are mostly of white ground with arabesques of brownish yellow {lionato bitju), birds, crosses, knots, stars, &c., some having a blue ground, and man}- such are without ornament (v. Lazari, op. cit.).