We are inclined to ascribe the earlier and more important productions to Pesaro, and are disposed to consider the Diruta fabrique as a subsequent and less important source of supply in respect to the quality of the wares. These _bacili_ are nearly all of the same size and form; large heavy dishes of flesh-coloured clay with deep sunk centres and a projecting circular “giretto” behind, forming a foot or base; this is invariably pierced with two lateral holes, for the purpose of introducing a cord by which to suspend them to the wall, thus proving that they were looked upon more as decorative pieces (_piatti di pompa_) than for general use upon the table; the back is covered by a coarse yellow glaze, the front having a surface whitened by slip and painted as above-mentioned. The rim is sometimes ornamented in compartments (_a quartiere_), or with chequered, “chevroné” or imbricated patterns, or conventional flowers. Engraved (p. 31) is a fine plateau of early date: no. 4078 at South Kensington. The larger pieces of the period made at various places have a certain general resemblance in the clumsy fashion, the dry archaic style of drawing executed in blue outline, and in the diaper patterns of the border. Glazed wares of polychrome and subject decoration were no doubt produced before the introduction of the lustre colours and, judging from examples which have come down to us, the forms seem to have been partially derived from Persian, Hispano-moresque, and other oriental originals; deep dishes with angular sides and narrow rims; others with a wide border or side sloping at a gradual angle from the small circular centre. The gothic element is, however, traceable on some early pieces of north Italian origin. A more careful investigation of the records of Italian families, and the archives of the many towns at which potteries formerly existed, might throw considerable light on the history and establishment of the various fabriques and the marks and characteristics of their productions; but at present we can only form an approximate opinion by comparison of the examples existing in collections with signed examples by the same hand. We agree in believing with Passeri that the potteries of Pesaro were of very early date, probably anterior to Gubbio, and think that full weight should be given to his statement that the use of the lustre pigments was introduced from the former to the latter fabrique, where it attained to unsurpassed excellence under the able management and improvement of Mº. Giorgio but whether the furnaces of Faenza and Forlì were of earlier or subsequent establishment to that of Pesaro is still a matter of conjecture, and of Caffaggiolo and others we have no record. Of the antiquity of these last there can be no doubt. But although producing at the latter end of the fifteenth [Illustration]