As might be expected in the case of an experimental ware of amateurish origin, the extant pieces differ much in technical merit. Some are heavily moulded, with a rough decoration of dark blue (I refer to some pieces now in the Louvre); while on others, as on the fine but damaged bowl at South Kensington, a delicate design is carefully painted (PL. XXX.). The ground, however, of this Medici porcelain is seldom of a pure white, and the colours have a tendency to run. Now that the specimens from the Davillier and Rothschild collections have found their way into the Louvre, this ware is best represented in that gallery. There are, however, several pieces at Sèvres, and some good examples at South Kensington. The later history of this ware is obscure. The kilns appear to have been removed to Pisa, and their existence cannot be traced later than 1620. ROUEN PORCELAIN.--For a period of two generations and more after this date it would seem that little was attempted. The vague assertions found in patents taken out during this time in England and in France are of slight value for us, for the claim is only made to an _imitation_ of the Eastern ware, and such an expression might apply to many kinds of enamelled fayence. [Illustration: _PLATE XXX._ MEDICI, BLUE AND WHITE] In France,[148] Claude Reverend, in 1664, is authorised to ‘_contrefaire la porcelaine à la façon des Indes_.’ A more serious interest attaches to the letters-patent granted in 1673 to Louis Poterat of Rouen. This Poterat was a man of some position; he belonged to a family that had long been connected with the manufacture of enamelled fayence at St. Sever, near Rouen. In the diploma of 1673 facilities are granted him by the king for making vessels of porcelain similar to those of China by means of the secret process that he had discovered for manufacturing ‘_la véritable porcelaine de la Chine_.’ There exist certain little pieces of soft-paste porcelain, sparely decorated with arabesques and _lambrequins_ in blue _sous couverte_, in the style of Louis XIV., and marked with the letters A.P. surmounted by a small star.[149] These are now generally classed as Rouen ware of the time of Poterat; in that case, we must see in them the earliest specimens of the French family of _porcelaines tendres_. We have seen specimens at Sèvres and at Dresden, in both cases little cylindrical boxes divided into compartments. A similarly decorated cup, of very translucent ware, in the Fitzhenry collection, is also attributed to Rouen.