on a large scale, and improvement in composition, of stanniferous enamel. That the nature of this enamel is different from what was used upon other pottery of the time may be seen by a comparison of the two surfaces. The greater degree of opacity and solidity in the former is a marked variation from that in general use; so with the surface of his painted tiles. Perhaps the earlier productions of the Caffaggiolo furnaces approach the nearest to it. There is no piece, seemingly, of the production of a Florentine or Tuscan pottery with a date before 1477, and this example would appear to be tin-glazed. With that exception, the first pieces surfaced with the stanniferous enamel are ascribed to the Caffaggiolo pottery and are dated 1507 and 1509, some seventy years subsequent to its first recorded use by Luca della Robbia; and we have no specimens which can with any probability be ascribed to a period within a quarter of a century of its habitual application by him. We cannot, therefore, find the slightest evidence to disprove the assertion of Vasari and others that Luca was the discoverer, for Italy, of this important improvement in the glazing of earthenware vessels. It is not, however, unreasonable to suppose that its composition may have been communicated to him by one of the Moorish potters from Spain, and that, acting upon this communication, he made a series of experiments resulting in the perfection to which he attained, and which result was guarded as a family secret by two succeeding generations.
A modification of this composition, perhaps also learnt from Hispano-moorish potters, became gradually known and adopted at various fabriques, spreading throughout the potteries of Italy, France, &c. We are inclined to M. Jacquemart’s opinion that it first came into use at Caffaggiolo, the fabrique established under the influence of the Medici family, but cannot consent to his suggestion that Luca learnt there the composition of the enamel. We agree with Mr. Robinson in giving the precedence, or at any rate an equality in point of age, to Faenza, and in ascribing to that place certain figures and groups in alto-rilievo, bearing inscriptions in Gothic letters, the modelling and design of which are more characteristic of the north of the Apennines than of the Tuscan valley.
Andrea della Robbia, to whom his uncle’s mantle descended, also painted occasionally on plane surfaces, as may be seen on tiles which cover the flat surface of a “lavabo” in the sacristy of the church of Sta. Maria Novella, in Florence. We would merely further note the fact that in 1520 the art was in decadence under the hand of Giovanni the son of Andrea, Luca’s nephew, and that during the first quarter of that century various imitators produced inferior works in the same style, copying the models of the Della Robbia and the works of some other sculptors. By Giovanni’s brother Girolamo it was introduced into France, where the château de Madrid was decorated by him under the patronage of Francis the first.
In Italy, Agostino di Antonio di Duccio, said to be a pupil of Luca, worked at Perugia in 1459–61, where he executed enamelled bas-reliefs on the façade of the church of S. Bernardino, and in S. Domenico. Pier Paolo di Agapito da Sassoferrato is said to have erected an altar in this manner in the church of the Cappucini in Arceria, in the diocese of Sinigaglia, in the year 1513. He was also a painter. An able modeller as well as artist potter Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, of Gubbio, also appears to have executed works in the manner of the Della Robbia. The practice of enamelling large works modelled in terra-cotta would seem to have gone out of repute before the end of the first half of the sixteenth century; not perhaps so much from the secret of the glaze being known only, as we are told, to the descendants of the Della Robbia family, as from the want of demand for works in that material.
From the increased use of decorative tiles and the encouragement afforded to the production of artistic pottery, furnaces and boteghe had been established in various parts of northern and central Italy, particularly in Romagna, in Tuscany, and in the lordship of Urbino, where the manufacture was patronized at an early time by the ruling family, as also by the Sforza at Pesaro. Here the first use of the metallic lustre would appear to have been developed; but we have even less historical evidence of the date of its earliest introduction than in the case of the tin enamel. Before that great improvement was adopted by any of the potteries in Italy, the pearly, the golden, and the ruby lustre colours were produced at Pesaro, and perhaps at Gubbio where it subsequently attained its greatest perfection. Pesaro being a coast town of the Adriatic, and one where furnaces had long existed, would form a ready asylum for oriental workmen fleeing from persecution in their own country. It is reasonable to suppose that from them the use of these metallic pigments was acquired, and accordingly we find early pieces presumably of this fabrique, the decorative “motif” on which is eastern to a marked degree. Painted wares had been produced anterior to the use of the metallic pigments, and among them specimens are occasionally found betraying Persian influence in their design.
The outlines on the “mezza maiolica” of this period were traced in manganese black or zaffre blue, with which last the shadings are also indicated; the flesh is left white. A certain rigidity but truthfulness is observable in the design, crude and wanting in relief, but precise and free from timidity. A moresque border frequently surrounds a coat-of-arms, portrait busts in profile of contemporary princes, or that of a saint or heathen goddess; or the sacred monogram; or, again (betrothal gifts) a heart with joined hands, as in the woodcut; or portraits of ladies with a ribbon or banderole, on which the name is inscribed with a complimentary adjective as “bella,” “diva,” and the like; such are the principal subjects of these early bacili.
The admirable “madreperla” lustre of these pieces, changing in colour and effect with every angle at which the light is reflected from their brilliant surface, is the leading characteristic and special beauty of this class of wares, which must have been in great request and produced in considerable quantity. Pesaro and Diruta lay claim to their production, and each fabrique has its champions.
We are inclined to ascribe the earlier and more important productions to Pesaro, and are disposed to consider the Diruta fabrique as a subsequent and less important source of supply in respect to the quality of the wares. These bacili are nearly all of the same size and form; large heavy dishes of flesh-coloured clay with deep sunk centres and a projecting circular “giretto” behind, forming a foot or base; this is invariably pierced with two lateral holes, for the purpose of introducing a cord by which to suspend them to the wall, thus proving that they were looked upon more as decorative pieces (piatti di pompa) than for general use upon the table; the back is covered by a coarse yellow glaze, the front having a surface whitened by slip and painted as above-mentioned. The rim is sometimes ornamented in compartments (a quartiere), or with chequered, “chevroné” or imbricated patterns, or conventional flowers. Engraved (p. 31) is a fine plateau of early date: no. 4078 at South Kensington.
The larger pieces of the period made at various places have a certain general resemblance in the clumsy fashion, the dry archaic style of drawing executed in blue outline, and in the diaper patterns of the border. Glazed wares of polychrome and subject decoration were no doubt produced before the introduction of the lustre colours and, judging from examples which have come down to us, the forms seem to have been partially derived from Persian, Hispano-moresque, and other oriental originals; deep dishes with angular sides and narrow rims; others with a wide border or side sloping at a gradual angle from the small circular centre. The gothic element is, however, traceable on some early pieces of north Italian origin.
A more careful investigation of the records of Italian families, and the archives of the many towns at which potteries formerly existed, might throw considerable light on the history and establishment of the various fabriques and the marks and characteristics of their productions; but at present we can only form an approximate opinion by comparison of the examples existing in collections with signed examples by the same hand. We agree in believing with Passeri that the potteries of Pesaro were of very early date, probably anterior to Gubbio, and think that full weight should be given to his statement that the use of the lustre pigments
