Another characteristic of this _fabrique_ is the dark blue background of many of the pieces, and the method in which it was coarsely applied by the brush. Fig. 20 represents the St. George of Donatello, from the bronze statue in the church of Or San Michele, at Florence. SIENA The earliest specimens known of this important manufactory are some wall or floor tiles of the commencement of the 16th century. They are of maiolica, ornamented with polychrome designs of chimeræ, dragons, amorini, masks, birds, &c., beautifully painted in brilliant colours, especially orange and yellow on a black ground. They vary in shape, being triangular, pentagonal, or square, to suit the geometrical designs of the wall or floor they covered; the average diameter is 5 inches. The plate in blue _camaïeu_ on white ground, in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 21) is signed on the reverse "fata in Siena da M{o}. Benedetto." [Illustration: FIG. 21.--PLATE. BY M{O}. BENEDETTO. _About_ 1520.] After a long interval, the name of the town again appears on maiolica of a very characteristic description, accompanied by the names of the artists: Bartolomeo Terenze (or Terchi) Romano in 1727, and Ferdinando Maria Campani, 1733 to 1747, the subjects being taken from Raphael, Annibale Caracci, and other masters (see Figs. 22-24). [Illustration: FIG. 22.--PLATEAU. WOMAN AND PEACOCKS. _18th Century._] [Illustration: FIG. 23.--PLATE. VINTAGE. _Signed_ FERDINANDO M{A} CAMPANI, SIENA, 1747.] [Illustration: FIG. 24.--PLATE. GALATEA. _After_ ANNIBALE CARACCI. _Early 18th Century._] PISA This city was, about the middle of the 16th century, the centre of a considerable trade in the exportation of Italian fayence into Spain, and especially to Valencia, in exchange for the golden metallic lustre ware of that country. Antonio Beuter, a traveller, about 1550, praises the fayence of Pisa as well as those of Pesaro and Castelli. A specimen bearing the name "PISA," a large vase of fine form, covered with arabesques on white ground, was in the collection of the late Baron Alphonse de Rothschild. VENICE Little is known respecting the Venetian maiolica of the 16th and 17th centuries, but numerous pieces exist bearing marks with Venice recorded on them. These are specimens of the 17th century with a mark of a fishhook, and from the long intervals between its use, it evidently belongs to a _fabrique_ and not a painter. As an example of Venetian maiolica, _circa_ 1700, see Fig. 25, a plate painted with an architectural subject. [Illustration: FIG. 25.--PLATE. _Circa_ 1700.] In 1753, the Senate of Venice conceded to the brothers Bertolini the establishment at Murano of a kiln for making fayence. But it did not succeed so well as the promoters anticipated, and it was probably discontinued about 1760, as the concession was annulled by a decree of April 1763. NOVE