XABETA · BE
FAVENTCIE
and again upon another a small label inscribed PETRVS · ANDRE · DEFAVE. Whatever doubt may attach to the Faentine origin of the plaque in the hôtel Cluny, dated 1475, there can be none in respect to the pavement of San Petronio: the fact of the name Petrus Andre-de-Fave occurring, independent of the others, upon a piccolo cartello seems to us an indisputable proof to that effect. It is painted with great skill, in a style of colouring and with ornaments which we are accustomed to attribute to Faenza; trophies, animals, heads, the arms of Bologna and her motto, the keys of St. Peter, and various devices are represented; among them the silver case of lancets on a green field, and the wounded vein, imprese of the Manfredi family of Faenza.
Referring the reader to the full explanation given in the introduction to the large catalogue of Maiolica, we can give here only a few brief remarks upon the wares attributed to Faenza under the following heads:—
| A. | The produce of the Casa Pirota. |
| B. | By Baldasara Manara. |
| C. | Pieces by the painter of the Correr service, and of his botega. |
| D. | By other artists presumably of Faenza. |
| E. | Wares of the last century and modern. |
A. One of the most important if not the leading establishment at Faenza was known under the name of the Casa Pirota, and probably existed from an early period, but when and by whom founded, and the name of its maestro, we have yet to learn. A house on the north side of the principal street (where a pottery was working some few years since, at which we have seen well-executed reproductions of the old wares) was stated by the proprietors to be on the site of that ancient botega, but whether there is sufficient foundation for this statement we are unable to say.
The greater part or nearly all the pieces known to us as being marked with the crossed circle, signed with the name of the house, or executed by the same hands as such pieces, are of a marked character of decoration; the wide borders are generally
ornamented with grotesques, reserved in white and shaded with a brownish yellow; or reserved in a paler greyish tone heightened with white, on a dark blue ground. A berettino and sopra azzuro are the terms applied to this mode of decoration, and among examples of the former and perhaps earlier of the styles, are works of the highest quality of enamelled pottery and of admirable decoration and artistic painting. The woodcut is from a good plate of about 1520; at South Kensington, no. 1734: and we give also a copy of the mark on the reverse.