Fig. 14. Virgin and Child. School of Delia Robbia. (S. K. M).

Fig. 15. Early Pesaro Dish. (S. K. M).

Fig. 16. Pitcher; Caffaggiolo Maiolica, (S. K. M).

Fig. 17. Sgraffitto Maiolica. (S. K. M).

Fig. 18. Maiolica Plate; Caffaggiolo Ware (?). (S. K. M).

These plates are known as "amatorri" pieces. The colours used in the Pesaro maiolica are yellow, green, manganese, black, and cobalt blue, and have what is known as the "madreperla" lustre, which has a beautiful changing effect in colour. The outlines are manganese, and the flesh left white in the best pieces. The finest work executed in Pesaro came from the fabrique of Lanfranco in the years 1540-45.

The products of the Sienese potteries are worthy of being ranked with the best works of Pesaro and Caffaggiolo, to which they are closely allied.

There is a fine pavement of tiles in the Kensington Museum from the Petrucci Palace at Siena, dated 1509. Benedetto is the name of an artist of the Sienese school, who painted in maiolica, from whose hand most of the best Siena maiolica has come; the drug pot (Fig. 21) and the two plates (Figs. 22 and 23) are works of his. On the drug pot, tiles, and some large dishes, grotesques were very much used as ornament, and in colour, yellow, orange, and particularly black grounds, were used in the Siena production.

The Maiolica Wares Of Gubbio

The Maiolica Wares Of Gubbio are the most celebrated in all Italy, as regards their richness and beauty of colouring; this, of course, was due mostly to the beautiful effects gained by the unique ruby and gold lustres used at this fabrique. The name of one man, Maestro Giorgio An-dreoli, as the chief artist, is connected with the Gubbio ware. He was a native of Pavia, and came of a noble family. He finally established himself at Gubbio, where he was made a "castellano" of that city in 1498, and enjoyed the patronage of the Dukes of Urbino. He was a modeller as well, as a painter of maiolica, and is said to have executed some altar-pieces in relief before coming to Gubbio. In the Kensington Museum there is a bas-reliet of St. Sebastian which is supposed on good authority to be a work of his hand; it is coloured with the gold and ruby lustres.

A Circular Dish Or "Bacile" Of Lustred Ware

A Circular Dish Or "Bacile" Of Lustred Ware (Fig. 24), with the subject of two mailed horsemen in the centre, and a border of foliated ornament, is a work of the Gubbio fabrique, but is an earlier work than the time of M° Giorgio.

The embossed vase in copper lustre (Fig. 25) is a very beautiful example of the stanniferous glaze and ruby copper lustre. The design is well adapted to show the "reflets" of the lustre by the variety of form on its embossed surfaces. This work is ascribed to the same artist who executed the previous example.

The Tazza

The Tazza (Fig. 26), with the subject, "The Stream of Life," after Robetta, is one of Giorgio's best figure pieces. Though not very good in figure draughtsmanship, it is excellent in colour, and is cleverly heightened with ruby lustre. This and another plaque in Kensington Museum, representing the "Three Graces" after Raphael, are amongst if not the best of Giorgio's work: for colour and richness of lustre, and for clearness and perfection of the enamel glaze, they are the best works in Italian maiolica that we possess. The date of both is probably 1525.

A work by Giorgio is shown at Fig. 27. This is a highly decorative tazza in the best manner of Giorgio, who was very clever at this kind of design. The groundwork of this piece is blue, parts of the decoration are green, and other parts ruby, while all of the decoration is lustred. The back of this piece is covered with a yellow lead glaze, which seems to be the case with many examples of maiolica. Probably it was done for economical reasons. We close the list of illustrations of Gubbio ware with that of a dish, "Fruttiera" (Fig. 28). The design is simple and very good for showing the beauties of the ruby and gold lustres. It is embossed, and has been made from a mould, and is an unsurpassed example of the famous Gubbio lustre. Mr. Fortnum thinks that Giorgio obtained the secret of the ruby lustre from an artist that formerly worked at the Gubbio fabrique, and that he did not invent it, and also that all the similar lustred ware was produced at Gubbio, the wares of Urbino, Castel-Durante, and of other fabriques having been sent to Gubbio to get the final lustre added to them.

Another artist who executed many important works at the Gubbio botega signs his productions with the letter N. Some think that this is meant for a signature of Mo. Cencio, a son of Giorgio who succeeded his father at the fabrique. Another name that appears on some of this ware is M. Prestino. It is known that Giorgio signed his name on many pieces that were painted by other artists or by his pupils.

A Beautiful Specimen Of Castel-Durante Ware

A Beautiful Specimen Of Castel-Durante Ware is the plate (Fig. 29) with a deep centre - "tondino" - which has a border of cupids, foliage, and medallions on a dark blue ground. The centre has cupids, and the sides of the centre painted with solid white ornaments on a low white ground. It is probably the work of the artist Giovanni Maria (1508).

The vase (Fig. 30) is a richly decorated specimen of the same ware; the grotesque masks and arabesques are vigorously drawn, and the ornament generally is a good example of that used on the Castel-Durante ware. This vase has been used as a drug pot, and was made at the botega of Sebastiano di Marforio. Giuseppe Raffaelli in his "Memorie" (1846) says that the manufacture of glazed pottery as an art began when Monsignor Durante built a "castello" on the Metauro at Correto in the year 1284, and the names of potteries are recorded that were in existence in 1364 to 1440. The year 1490 began a period of great activity in the Castel-Durante fabriques, and we hear of many artists who were Durantine maiolica painters going to various parts of Europe and establishing works in pottery. Tesio and Gatti went to Corfu in 1530, and taught the art in the Ionian Islands; Francesco de Vasaro went to Venice, where he was eminently successful in developing the Venetian phase of maiolica; others went to Nevers and Lyons, in France, and one to Antwerp. The artist who styled himself "Francesco" of Urbino, and who also worked at Perugia, sometimes signed his works "Durantino." Vasari, in his "Lives of the Painters," speaks of Battista Franco of Venice, a clever painter and designer, as having been employed by the Duke of Urbino, Guidobaldo II., in 1540, to design subjects for the excellent ceramic painters of Castel-Durante. The death of Duke Francisco Maria II. (1631) put an end practically to the maiolica industry of the place; the trade generally then declined, and the artists were forced to emigrate.