To Italy and to the family of the Medici, as we have seen, belongs the honor of making the first artificial European porcelain of which any specimens have come down to our time. The result of recent researches has been to throw much light upon the interesting discovery made at Florence. Dr. Foresi, of that city, was the first whose attention was drawn to the matter. He collected several pieces of porcelain, evidently of European manufacture; and his curiosity having been aroused as to their origin, he found that the Grand Duke Francis I. had a private factory in the Boboli gardens, that there experiments had been made with a view to discovering the composition of porcelain, and that success had been attained. The marks on the pieces are the letter F. and a dome, the arms of the Medici, and on one, the arms, the letters F. M. M. E. D. II.--the initials of Franciscus Medici Magnus Etruriæ Dux Secundus--the letter F. and the dome. The latter of these were clearly the initial letter of Florence or of Francis, and the dome of the city’s magnificent cathedral. A fine specimen of the Florentine porcelain was brought to America in the Castellani collection (Fig. 223). It is a fluted dish, with the figure of St. Mark and the lion painted in blue on the bottom (Fig. 224). Under the lion’s paw is a volume bearing the letters G. and P., supposed to be the artist’s initials, and on the reverse are the letter F. and the dome. In the same collection is a plate, also decorated in the Japanese style, light blue and white, and having the dome and letter on the under side. There are not thirty pieces of this ware known. In connection with the fact that the decoration, as we pointed out when speaking of this ware under Japan, is undoubtedly Japanese, an interesting question has been raised by Mr. B. Phillips. He expresses the belief that the presence of Japanese--composing the embassy to the Pope--in Italy may have had a direct influence, not only on the ornamentation but on the manufacture of the Medicean porcelain. He then says: “That these Japanese nobles visited the Grand Duke in Florence cannot be doubted. Now, as to the Medicean porcelain, we have been careful not to use the word ‘discovery’ in connection with its early manufacture in Florence. We are strongly of the opinion that the method of selecting and preparing the material from which porcelain had to be made was derived directly from the Japanese. If the decoration, as we believe has been undoubtedly proved, was taken from the Japanese, might not the method of making porcelain have been derived from the same source?” That Italy may have full credit for the Grand Duke’s success, it may be pointed out that there are two objections to the above theory.