644 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
In the sixteenth century, when opaque white enamel first made its 
appearance in current practice, it was substituted for the engobe, so 
that instead of decorating with crude engobe they decorated over 
crude enamel. This was first applied to the piece, the decoration 
was painted on it, and it was fired at 900° C. The enamel, in vitri- 
fying, incorporated with it the color, giving tones of great softness. 
As examples of painting on crude enamel, may be mentioned the 
beautiful majolicas of the Italian Renaissance, the faiences of Nevers, 
of Rouen, of Moustiers, which are Italian products, and finally of 
Delft. 
In the fifteenth century the Italians were familiar with most of 
the colors and enamels which we use to-day, as well as with the 
metallic lusters. The processes had become widely known among 
them and it is their formule which have furnished a basis for all our 
modern discoveries in polychromatic decoration. For this reason, 
when Bernard Palissy began the manufacture of his celebrated 
. ceramic ware, he had only to make use of the enamels which were em- 
ployed in the Latin countries. One can not take him seriously, there- 
fore, when he puts himself forward as the inventor in France of 
enameled faience. He wished us to believe from his incredible state- 
ments that there had been no ceramists before him (which, by the 
way, is still the fashion in our day). In any case, he made a great 
mistake in burning his furniture and reducing his family to beg- 
gary in order to discover that which the humblest potters of his time 
already knew. 
The Italians during their great artistic Renaissance had imitated 
the ancients in giving to their beautiful decorations a utilitarian pur- 
pose. Each form not only corresponded to its determined purpose, 
but the decoration was appropriate to the use to which the piece was 
designed. They had, for example, small round dishes which were 
filled with preserved fruit and sent to young maidens on festival 
occasions. The painting on these generally represented love scenes. 
Certain curious vases were offered exclusively to women soon after 
confinement. These singular pieces could be separated into six or 
seven parts—spoon, bouillon cup, egg plate, etc.—which after having 
been used were placed in the original order, so as to reconstruct the 
vase. These were decorated with allegorical subjects representing all 
the gods and goddesses of love. The same idea was carried out in all 
their other utensils. Thus, on their washstands we find tritons, 
nymphs, and marine scenes. The fruit dishes were decorated with 
agricultural scenes. It is well known that their architecture was 
largely derived from the ceramic art. 
There existed in France at the period when Bernard Palissy was 
alive a form of decoration quite as remarkable as his, as remarkable 
because it denotes in its originators a really novel conception in the 
