We have given in the last chapter a very brief abstract or epitome of the interesting manuscript of Piccolpasso, which offers us a perfect idea of the manner and comparatively simple appliances under which the beautiful examples of the potter’s art were produced in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The rationale of these processes is clear enough and requires no comment; but we may perhaps remark that whereas the fixing of the glaze and colours in the ordinary process is merely produced by a degree of heat sufficient to liquefy and blend them, in the case of the metallic reflection a different effect is requisite, and different means adopted. The pigments consist partly of metallic salts, which being painted on the wares, after exposure to a simple heat for some time, have then directed upon their glowing surface the heated smoke given off by the fagots of broom; this smoke being in fact carbon in a finely divided state has great power, at a high temperature, of reducing metals from their salts; painted on the wares these are thereby decomposed, leaving a thin coat of mixed metal, varying in colour and iridescence from admixture with the glaze and other causes, and producing the beautiful effects so well known.

The various names by which the Italian pottery of the renaissance has been known have in some instances arisen from, as they have also led to, error. “Faenza ware,” doubtless, had its origin from the town of that name, although its French equivalent “faÏence” may either be a translation of the Italian, or may be derived from a town in Provence, called “Faiance” or “Fayence,” a few miles from Cannes and FrÉjus, where potteries are stated to have existed from an early period. “Urbino ware” and “Umbrian ware” explain themselves as connected with those important sites of the manufacture, while the name of “Raffaelle ware” was doubtless derived from the subjects after his designs, with which so many pieces were painted, and from the grotesques after his manner. A very beautiful drawing of his school, and which has been ascribed to Raffaelle’s own pencil, is in the royal collection at Windsor. It is for the border of a plate, and consists of a continuous circular group of amorini, dancing in the most graceful attitudes.

Scripture subjects are perhaps more general upon the pieces of early date, particularly those of Faenza, on which designs from Albert DÜrer, Martin SchÖn, and other German painters are found, executed with the greatest care; such subjects were also used at Caffaggiolo. The spirit of the renaissance awakening a passion for the antique declared itself in the numerous representations from Greek and Roman history and mythology, scenes from Homer, the metamorphoses of Ovid, and the like, which formed the main stock subjects for the wares of the Umbrian fabriques, excepting always the sacred histories delineated so admirably by Orazio Fontana and others, from the designs of Raffaelle and his scholars. It was among the artists of this duchy that the habit of writing the subject on the back of the piece chiefly prevailed, with specimens of curious spelling and strange latinity. Transmutation of subject is not rare, as the burning of the “Borgo” for the siege of Troy, and others. The forms appear to have varied considerably at different localities of the craft, partaking of a classic origin, mixed with some orientalism in the earlier and gothic forms in the more northern pieces; but upon all the exuberance of fancy and rich ornamentation characteristic of the Italian “cinque-cento” is made evident, as it is upon the furniture, the bronzes, and the jewellery of that artistic period.

There can be little doubt that the maiolica and finer painted wares were looked upon at the time they were produced as objects of ornament or as services “de luxe.” The more ordinary wares or dozzinale were doubtless used for general domestic purposes in the houses of the higher classes, but the finer pieces decorated by better artists were highly prized. Thus we find that services were only made for royal or princely personages, frequently as presents. Some of the choicest specimens in our cabinets were single gift pieces; small plates and scodelle which it was then the fashion for gallants to present, filled with preserves or confetti to ladies. Many of these are of the form known as tondino, small, with a wide flat brim and sunk centre; in this the central medallion is generally occupied by a figure of Cupid, hearts tied by ribbon, or pierced by arrows; or by joined hands and similar amatory devices, or with a shield of arms and initial letters. The borders are painted with grotesques and trophies, among which sonnets and music sometimes occur, and medallions with love emblems, portraits, and armorial bearings. These amatorii pieces also occur as large plates and deep saucers, the surface of each entirely covered with a portrait of the beloved (as in the engraving p. 63) accompanied by a ribbon or banderole, on which her name or a motto is inscribed, often with the complimentary accompaniment of “bella,” “diva,” “paragon di tutti,” &c. Jugs, vases, and other shaped pieces were also decorated in a similar style.

We find in maiolica all objects for table use: inkstands, ornamental vases, and quaint surprises; salt-cellars of curious forms; jugs of different size and model; many kinds of drug pots and flasks; pilgrims’ bottles, vasques, and cisterns; candelabra and candlesticks, rilievos and figures in the round; in short, every object capable of being produced in varied fancy by the potter’s art: even beads for necklaces, some of which are in the writer’s possession, decorated with knot work and concentric patterns and inscribed severally ANDREA · BELLA = MARGARITA · BELA = MEMENTO · MEI ·; these last, the only examples known, are finished with considerable care and are probably of the earlier years of the sixteenth century.

There is little doubt that many of the pieces ostensibly for table use were only intended and applied for decorative purposes (like the vase in the woodcut p. 131), to enrich the shelves of the “credenza,” “dressoir,” or high-backed sideboard, intermingled with gold and silver plate, Venetian glass, &c. Such pieces were known as “piatti di pompa” or show plates, and among them are some of the most important and beautiful of the larger dishes and bacili, as well as the more elaborate and elegant of the shaped pieces.