A modern establishment professes to occupy the premises of the ancient Casa Pirota, where we have seen fairly good reproductions of the ordinary _sopra azzuro_ plates of the old botega, but these are but weak imitations, and the glory of Faentine ceramic art must be looked for in museums. CHAPTER XVI. FORLÌ, FERRARA, ETC. The first notice we have of the pottery of FORLÌ is merely indirect, occurring in a document referred to by Passeri and dated as early as 1396, a passage in which speaks of John Pedrinus “formerly of the potteries of Forlì and now an inhabitant of Pesaro;” thus proving that such a manufactory did exist at the former town previous to that date; but it does not inform us whether it was more than a furnace for the production of ordinary wares. Piccolpasso refers to the painted majolica of Forlì, and there can be no doubt from the examples we still possess that at the time he wrote, in the middle of the sixteenth century, it was well known as one of the important fabriques of northern Italy. Our next evidence is more direct, and consists of a series of examples in the South Kensington museum, the careful comparison of which has led to the conclusion that the wares produced at the botega of Maestro Jeronimo (?) at the latter end of the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth century were of a very high order. That numbered 7410 is the finest piece with which the writer is acquainted, part of an historical service made for Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, whose arms are emblazoned on the rim. It has hitherto been a question as to which of the early manufactories the production of this service could be attributed, but we think that there can be no hesitation, after a comparison with other pieces, in classifying it as a production of Forlì. The pretty plate no. 1803 (engraved) approaches nearer to the manner of the finer wares of Forlì than to any other fabrique with which we can connect it, and the pavement of tiles no. 30, on which occurs the date 1513, is remarkable, as shown in the next engraving, for the portrait heads introduced, one of which is that of the celebrated Melozzo; the other may perhaps be that of the artist who executed the work, and who is unquestionably the same as the painter of the Mº _iero_ plate; from an inscription of doubtful reading it may be understood that he signs this work as “Petrus,” while the letter R, the initial of his patronymic, occurs with P at the side of what may be intended for his portrait. [Illustration] Mr. Barker had a plate, from the Delsette collection, subject the story of Alexander and Roxana, on which is inscribed “Leochadius Solobrinus picsit forolivia mece 1555;” and in the museum at Bologna is a basin on which is painted a representation of the supper at which Mary Magdalene washes Jesus’ feet; on the back it is signed by the same artist, with the date 1564. This is the latest signed and dated piece of the fabrique with which we are acquainted. [Illustration]