It may have been soon after this date that "fine" superseded "half" ware in the potteries of Pesaro, where the art obtained a new stimulus on transference hither of the court by Duke Guidobaldo II. Thereafter it is impossible to distinguish earthenware issuing from these establishments from that of Urbino, their quality being similar, and the artists in many cases identical; but by that Prince's patronage it unquestionably attained its greatest perfection. A petition by certain makers of Pesaro for protection, is given in X. of the Appendix, as illustrating then received principles of trade, as well as of this fabric. It bears date in 1552; and in 1569, the Duke granted to Giacomo Lanfranco, of that city, a patent for twenty-five years, guarded by 500 scudi of penalty, for his inventions in applying gold to vases, and in constructing them of great size (exceeding the capacity of two _some_), of antique forms, and wrought in relievo. As a further encouragement, he and his father Girolamo were exempted from every impost or tax, and from mill-dues on grinding ten _some_ of grain annually. Proud of the reputation of his native pottery, Guidobaldo was in the habit of presenting services of majolica to foreign princes and personages, who again often sent commissions to be executed in the duchy, bearing their arms. A double service was, according to Vasari, given by him to Charles V.; and another to Philip II., painted by Orazio Fontana from Taddeo Zuccaro's designs; while Passeri mentions a set presented to Fra Andrea of Volterra, each piece inscribed _G.V.V.D. [Guid Vbaldonis Urbini Ducis] Munus, F. Andreæ Volaterano_. I found in the Oliveriana MSS. a letter addressed to his brother the Cardinal of Urbino, describing a _buffet_ for Monsignor Farnese, with its inventory, which will be found at XI. of the Appendix. The most important, however, of the ducal commissions was a very numerous set of jars, of many sizes and shapes, for the use of his laboratory [_spezeria_], a fashion imitated by other dilettanti. Blue, yellow, and green are their prevailing hues; they are always labelled with the name of some drug or mixture, and occasionally have a portrait or other subject. The original set was gifted by Francesco Maria II. to the treasury of Loreto, where about three hundred and eighty of them still serve their original purpose, many duplicates being met with in collections. Specimens will be found engraved by Bartoli, and in Mr. Marryat's beautiful volume; the offers of various crowned heads to replace them by others of gold and silver, are well-known travellers' tales, but in truth they are far from choice specimens.