66 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



practised previous to the introduction of the tin enamel, for we have 

 abundant examples of mezza-majolica from the potteries of Pessaro 

 or Gubbio, glazed only with oxide of lead and glass, which are bril- 

 liantly lustred with the metallic colors. None of these can, however, 

 be referred to an earlier date than the latter half of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, when taken from Italian records, which means with us the six- 

 teenth century. The Italians appear to have learned the art from 

 the Moorish potters of Majorca, and named their ware after that 

 island. This seems a reasonable conclusion. Many countries claim 

 the honor of inventing the tin enamel glaze ; it undoubtedly came 

 from the East, but Succa della Robia, born 1400, was the first to 

 execute it on a large scale in Europe, hence its name ; the secret 

 was kept for two succeeding generations. 



Gubbio Ware. — " Gubbio ware " is of the same nature, but 

 different in glaze. Gubbio is a small town in the territory of the 

 Dukes of Urbino and is one of the most famous in the art of pottery. 

 This excellence is chiefly attributed to the talent of one man, Maestro 

 Georgio Andreoli, under whose direction the works at Gubbio pro- 

 duced examples of a special nature. The pieces were decorated with 

 lustre pigments; flashing, brilliant, metallic, ruby, golden and opal- 

 escent tints, which vary in every specimen, as they reflect the light 

 directed at varying angles upon the surface. 



Faience. — The choicest works of Italian pottery were produced 

 between the years 1480 and 1530. Some of the productions at 

 this time actually bring their weight in gold, and they were not 

 made as thin — far from it — as a specimen of " eggshell." The 

 various names by which the Italian pottery of the " Renaissance " has 

 been known, have in some instances arisen from the names of the 

 places of manufacture, but this fact is often misleading — for example, 

 " Fayenza ware" doubtless derived its appellation from the town of 

 that name, although in French the equivalent "faience" may be either 

 a translation of the Italian or may be derived from a town near 

 Cannes called Fayence. 



A description of the Italian "gift pieces" was then given, which 

 cannot be well rendered without the aid of expensive wood cuts or 

 chromo lithographs, and so is omitted. 



As no lecture on pottery would be complete without reference to 



