It is greatly to be regretted that we have at present no clue by which we can, even with probability, attribute any of the examples of maiolica in our collections to the earlier works of the Faentine artists produced under Alfonso I. at Ferrara; the more so as both under his reign and under that of Alfonso II. the fabrique was conducted, not with a view to profit or commercial enterprise, but simply from princely magnificence and a love of art. The produce was for their own use, and for presents among friends, but not for sale; we may therefore conclude that it was of highly artistic and great technical excellence. This was exceptional among the potteries of that period in Italy, most of which were commercial undertakings, more or less patronized and encouraged by the ruling families of their several localities. Some Ferrarese pieces have doubtless been preserved, and are probably now classed among those of Faenza with which they must have a great affinity. It is not till 1579, when the art was in decline and when the Urbino style of ornamentation prevailed, that, on the occasion of the marriage of Alfonso II., it is believed that a _credenza_ was made, the pieces of which are to be recognized by bearing the device of a burning pyre with the motto “_Ardet æternum_.” The pieces of this service have a distinctive character of their own, and although their connection with Ferrara may be merely one of ownership and not of origin, we think it well to class them under that head because we have no other standard to which we can attach all that is known of the history of that princely botega, and because these pieces have, in default of positive evidence to the contrary, been accepted as Ferrarese. They are remarkable for the purity of the white enamel ground; the grotesques are by another hand than those on pieces universally believed to be of the later period of Urbino or of Pesaro, but they are not easily distinguished without examination of the specimens side by side. Two pieces are in the Louvre, two others are at South Kensington. Alfonso II. died in 1597, after which the dukedom was absorbed into the States of the Church. The Este removed to Modena, to which place the contents of the palace at Ferrara were carried, including the old maiolica, some of which is mentioned in inventories of the seventeenth century. A few pieces which escaped destruction during the French invasion of Italy were gathered from neglected corners of the palace, and placed in the public gallery of Modena in 1859.