M. Jacquemart is of opinion that the use of the tin enamel was known on pottery in Italy previous to its application to sculpture by that artist, and in this opinion Mr. Robinson agrees; yet it is remarkable that no record of such knowledge has descended to us. No enamelled product of the early fabriques of Faenza or Caffaggiolo bears an earlier date, nor of that of Pesaro where decoration by means of the lustre pigments is believed to have preceded their application on enamelled wares; whereas the use of the tin enamel by Luca on flat painted surfaces is proved by the _tondo_ on the church of Or San Michele, the lunette over a door at the Opera del Duomo, and the tiles on the tomb of Benozzo Federighi, bishop of Fiesole, now in the church of S. Francesco de Paolo below Bellosguardo, as Florentine evidences; and the twelve circular discs, on which are painted allegorical figures of the twelve months, are also to be referred to at South Kensington. Mr. J. C. Robinson, in his catalogue of Italian sculpture, has given a notice of the life and works of Luca della Robbia and his family, and a description of the specimens ascribed to them and possessed by the museum at South Kensington; the majority of these rank as works of sculpture, but among the rest are the _tondi_, here mentioned, a wood-cut from one of which we introduce. They are, in fact, circular plaques of enamelled pottery painted on the plain surface with allegorical representations of the months, in all probability by the hand of Luca della Robbia himself. We quote Mr. Robinson’s description of them from page 59 of that catalogue:-- [Illustration]