The pottery of Germany consists of two distinct classes: the fayence with opaque white stanniferous glaze, and that which to a great extent is called in England stoneware, in Germany _Steingut_, and in France _grès_ or sandstone. These epithets exactly describe the quality of the latter ware. It is very serviceable for domestic utensils, such as drinking bottles and vessels of everyday use, and is covered with a thin transparent glaze, effected by throwing common salt into the kiln when the ware is nearly baked--the salt vaporised by the heat surrounds the vessels, and acting upon the silica of their surfaces produces a thin gloss of silicate of soda over the ware, rendering it perfectly impervious. NUREMBERG (_Nürnberg_). The celebrated Veit Hirschvogel, of Schlettstadt, was born in 1441, and died in 1525; he was a great potter, contemporary with Luca della Robbia, of Florence. The early pieces of pottery are somewhat like maiolica, but the colours are brighter, green predominating in many specimens; figures in relief in niches are frequently seen on vases. Several chimney-pieces of this ware of the 15th century are still in existence, one is in the castle of Salzburg, and many pieces treasured up in museums are supposed to have been made by Hirschvogel himself. The Nuremberg pottery of the 16th and 17th centuries is not uncommon. Hirschvogel was succeeded by his sons and a host of continuators. Fayence of the 18th century is also met with, painted with scriptural subjects, sometimes in blue _camaïeu_, sometimes in other colours. [Illustration: FIG. 86.--JUG. _15th Century._] Fig. 86. Jug, of enamelled earthenware, in various colours, with figures in low relief; attributed to Veit Hirschvogel; height 13 in. [Illustration: FIG. 87.--DISH.] Fig. 87. Dish, painted in the centre with Christ rising from the tomb; signed with the painter's name Glüer, 1723. LEIPZIG. In the convent of St. Paul, which was built in 1207, there was a frieze of bricks, covered with tin enamel glaze, representing in relief the heads of Saints and Apostles, 20 in. by 15 in., 2-1/2 in. thick. On the demolition of the convent a selection of these was deposited in the Dresden Museum; they are of Byzantine character, in green enamel shaded with black; the hair, beard, and eyes of the figures are coloured. STREHLA. A manufactory for earthenware was in existence here for many centuries. A pulpit of enamelled earthenware still exists, supported by a life-size figure of Moses, ornamented with eight plaques of religious subjects and figures of the four Evangelists, bearing the name of the potter and the date 1565. OBERDORF. A factory was carried on by a potter named Hans Seltzman; a very fine stove made by him, with an inscription and dated 1514, is in the Palace at Füssen, in Bavaria. Many other places throughout Germany were equally famous in the 16th and 17th centuries, for the manufacture of stoves, as AUGSBURG, MEMMINGEN, &c.