FLOOK.] 
BRITISH AND MEDIEVAL ROOM. 
115 
Ornamental earthenware and porcelain, including two porcelain vases 
made at Chelsea in 1762; a bowl made and painted at Bow, in 1760, 
by Thomas Craft, being the only specimen which can with certainty be 
referred to that manufactory ; a copy of the Portland vase, made by 
Wedgwood ; several Wedgwood medallions, and specimens of English 
delft. On the lower shelf, a series of ornamental paving and wall 
tiles, varying in date from the 13th to the 16th century. 
Cases 122-125. Venetian and German Glass. — The former was 
made during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, at Murano, one of the 
islands on which Venice is built, by manufacturers who enjoyed con- 
siderable privileges, but were forbidden, on pain of death, to reveal 
the secrets of their art. This glass is peculiarly elegant in shape, and 
from the absence of lead, very light in weight. The older specimens 
are generally of plain, coloured, or white glass, with borders, coats of 
arms, or figures, painted in enamel, and enriched with gold. Some are 
frosted all over ; others (vasi a ritorti di latticinio) ornamented with lace 
work formed by threads of opaque white glass placed spirally, and 
occasionally enriched by intervening bands of coloured glass. Another 
variety (vasi a reticelle) is ornamented with a net-work formed by 
diagonal white threads enclosing a bubble at their intersections. 
The German glass is heavier than the Venetian in substance, and 
more clumsy in form. It was made during the 16th and 17th cen- 
turies, and is generally enamelled with figures or coats of arms. A 
very usual design is the Imperial eagle, bearing on its wings the arms of 
the states and cities which formed the Holy Roman Empire. 
Cases 125-136. Italian Majolica. — This enamelled earthenware 
derives its name from the Island of Majorca, whence it is supposed 
to have been first imported into Italy, though it does not appear whe- 
ther it was made in the island, or brought thither from Spain. The 
art was cultivated in some of the smaller states of Central Italy. 
Specimens are here exhibited, made at Faenza, Gubbio, Pesaro, Castel 
Durante, Urbino, Deruta, Caffagiolo, Rimini, Padua, Sienna, and 
Venice. The earlier, which date from a.d. 1480-1510, are large 
dishes enamelled on one side only, and painted either in strong 
bright colours, or in blue and yellow ; in the latter case the yellow has 
a metallic reflection, or iridescence. The next class, dating from 
about a.d. 1510-1525, is smaller in size, frequently ornamented with 
arabesque borders, and with metallic yellow and ruby. The third, a.d. 
1530-1550, is painted with subjects occupying the whole of the plate, 
and generally taken from Roman mythology ; the colours are bright, 
rarely iridescent, and with a great preponderance of yellow. In tho 
next class, a.d. 1560-1580, the drawing deteriorates, the colouring 
becomes dull and brown, and the subjects are frequently enclosed in 
arabesque borders on a white ground. In the next century Majolica 
almost entirely disappears, having been probably driven out of esteem 
by Oriental porcelain. 
Cases 136-139. German Stokewabb. — This is a hard dense pot- 
tery, well suited to domestic purposes, and sometimes richly ornamented. 
It was made in the neighbourhood of the Lower Rhine. There are 
three principal varieties. The first, cousisting usually of cvlindrical jugs, 
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