TRIANA, near Seville. There were several _fabriques_ here, one for the manufacture of spires or ornaments of earthenware, with which the gables of the buildings were crowned; others for the _azulejos_ or tiles so much used in Spain, and for fayence vessels of all descriptions. Fig. 49 is a bottle in the form of a lady in the costume of the period of Louis XIV., _en grande tenue_; inside the _fontange_ or top-knot of the headdress, which forms the spout, is written "Victor. I. Viva. Mi. Arno. Don. Damian. Sant. ✠." [Illustration: FIG. 49.--BOTTLE. Height 14 in.] [Illustration: FIG. 50.--DISH. _Dated_ 1774.] ALCORA. There was a very important _fabrique_ of fayence at this place, carried on by the Count D'Aranda, in the 18th century. The usual mark upon this fayence is the letter A in gold or colour. [Illustration: FIG. 51.--PLAQUE.] TALAVERA, near Toledo, was one of the most important manufactories in Spain in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the word _talavera_ was used to indicate all fayence in the same manner as _fayence_ in France and _delft_ in England. [Illustration: FIG. 52.--BOWL. _18th Century._] Fig. 52, a bowl, is glazed, decorated within and without with a bull fight, storks, and trees, in green, orange and manganese. CONTINENTAL FAYENCE FRANCE Maiolica and Fayence are essentially the same, being composed of the same material and covered with a tin glaze or opaque white enamel, which serves to hide the dingy colour of the clay, and forms a fine ground for the reception of colours. SAINT PORCHAIRE. All the earliest writers on the subject appear to have thought that it was made in Touraine, and it was called HENRI DEUX ware. The ware next became known as FAÏENCE D'OIRON, but in 1888 it was affirmed that the factory of this pottery was at Saint Porchaire. The distinguishing characteristics of this curious ware are, in the first place, the body, which is of a creamy white pipeclay, very compact and of fine texture, so that it does not, like the ordinary fayence, require an opaque white enamel, but merely a transparent glaze; and secondly, that instead of being painted with enamel colours over the surface, it is inlaid with coloured plates, in the same manner as the _champ levé_ enamels or niello work in metal. Fig. 53, a candlestick of cream-coloured ware, is inlaid with arabesques and other patterns, in dark brown and reddish brown, with reliefs of three boys, tragic masks, shields of arms of France, and the cipher of Henri II.; above are three terminal figures of satyrs; date about 1540. [Illustration: FIG. 53.--CANDLESTICK.] Fig. 54, a _biberon_, is inlaid with interlaced bands and scrolls, rosettes, guilloches, masks, &c., in a reddish colour; a curved band on the neck has a row of ciphers, these being the letters A. M., elegantly arranged as a decorative monogram, probably that of the Constable Anne de Montmorency. [Illustration: FIG. 54.--BIBERON. Height 9-1/4 in.]