After a “prologo” in which the author defends himself from the invidious remarks of others, he tells us how the earth or clay brought down by the river _Metauro_ was gathered from its bed during the summer when the stream was low, and by some was made into large balls, which were stowed in holes (_terrai_) purposely dug in the ground; by others it was previously dried in the sun; here it remained to mellow and purge itself from impurities, which otherwise would be injurious. This same method of gathering the material for the foundation of the wares was adopted at many other places. At Venice the earth of Ravenna and Rimini is worked, although they frequently use that dug at Battaglia, near Padua, but for the better sort that of Pesaro. Our author enters into further details of the method of gathering the potters’ clay where there are no rivers, by digging a succession of square pits connected by a channel in the depressions between hills, into which the earth, washed by showers of rain, is refined in its passage from pit to pit. For inferior wares the earth is then collected on a table and well beaten with an iron instrument, weighing twelve pounds, three or four times, being kneaded with the fingers as a woman would in making bread, and all impurities carefully removed. Afterwards it is formed into masses, from which a piece is taken to work upon the wheel or press into moulds. If the earth is too “morbida” it is placed upon the wall or house top, on sieves, through which it is washed by the rain, and gathered in old broken vases, &c., placed beneath. For making wares “all’ urbinate” (meaning probably with a white ground) the dug clay ought to be white, for if of a blue colour it will not take the tin glaze; this, however, is not objectionable if it is to be covered with a slip of “terra di Vicenza” (a white clay), a method which he terms “alla castellana.” But it is the reverse with the clay gathered from the beds of rivers, the blue in this case being of the better quality. It is difficult for us now accurately to apply the names which he gives to the variously shaped pieces, and the more so, as we are informed that in our author’s time various names were attached by different artists and at different potteries to the same form. Thus the “Vaso a pera” was also known as “Vaso da due maniche” and “Vaso Dorico;” and the body of such a vase was by some made in one piece, by others in two or three, making joints at the lower part and at the insertion of the neck, and uniting them by means of lute (_barbatina_). Vases and jugs with pyriform bodies, moulded handles, and shaped spouts, or lips, were known as “a bronzo antico” (fig. 1), their forms, doubtless, being derived from the antique bronze vessels discovered in excavations.