in dark blue, approaching to black, and may refer to the locality of the botega, possibly in the vicinity of the Via or Palazzo del Bufalo. These vases were for many years in the possession of the Gaetani family, and were purchased by the writer during his sojourn at Rome in the early part of 1870. The style of execution is in the manner of the Urbino grotesque decoration of the Fontana fabrique, but has not that delicacy, combined with artistic freedom and naïveté, so remarkable in the productions attributed to Camillo Fontana and other contemporary artists working some fifty years before; in certain respects they have affinity to the work of M. Gironimo of Urbino. Numerous examples of similar general character, but later in date and of inferior execution, are frequently to be met with in the shops at Rome and prove the production to have been abundant; specimens are in the South Kensington museum. [Illustration] A manufacture of white glazed earthenware, as also of “biscuit” porcelain, was introduced by the famous engraver _Giovanni Volpato_, of Venice, in the year 1790. He expended a large sum of money in making experiments and in the founding of the works, as also in procuring numerous models which were executed with the greatest care from the antique, and from other objects in museums, &c. as also from the works of Canova. At one time no less than twenty experienced artists were employed in modelling the “biscuit” porcelain to supply the great demand. Large furnaces were constructed, but the great expense and risk in the production of pieces for table use necessitated their sale at a price which could not compete with the French wares, although superior in the qualities of strength and resistance. The establishment continued until about 1832, when the works ceased. The figures and groups in “biscuit” porcelain, of pure white and stone colour (variations arising from the different degrees of heat to which they were exposed in the oven) were undoubtedly the more important artistic productions of the Roman fabrique; but glazed pottery, very similar in character to that of Leeds or the “Queen’s ware” of the Wedgwoods and known as “terraglia verniciata,” was also made, and in this material statuettes, figures of animals, candelabra, vases, and portrait busts were modelled. There can be little doubt that the finer examples were produced at the period when the elder Volpato perfected the establishment, and when his critical and artistic eye directed his modellers, and many of the figures and groups are admirable for their grace and careful execution. Few bear any mark, but occasionally pieces, both of the “biscuit” and glazed ware, bear the name G · VOLPATA · ROMA · impressed in the clay.