rivalling the triumphs
of pictorial art, the majolist carried his methods a step farther. The
white enamel coating was fired before painting, giving a glossy
surface on which the painter could draw or wipe out, and so could
execute outlining, tinting, or shading of the utmost delicacy. A film
of _coperta_ was then washed over the painting, and the piece was
fired a third time in the cooler parts of the kiln. In some instances
it is not easy even for an experienced potter to decide which method
has been pursued, owing to the softening of the colours. Generally we
should expect that the later and more pictorial pieces had been
painted on a ground of fired white enamel, and we may be absolutely
certain when delicate white patterns have been "picked out" in a
coloured ground.

Where lustre decoration has been added to a piece of majolica it
indicates, as elsewhere, the use of a special process, and a final
firing at a lower heat. The lustre pigments were the same as those
used on the earlier lustred wares, and these were painted over an
otherwise finished piece. To obtain the lustre effect these were
placed in a special kiln, so contrived that when the pots were just
visibly red the smoke of the burning fuel (rosemary or gorse) was
allowed to play upon them long enough to drive the metallic films
(silver or copper) into the already-fired glaze.[17]

_Collections._--The Victoria and Albert Museum contains perhaps the
most widely representative collection in the world, especially as at
the present time the pieces of the Salting and Pierpont Morgan
collections are on exhibition there. The British Museum collection is
valuable, being rich in "signed" pieces of the first quality. The
Wallace collection and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (Fortnum
collection, &c.) are also valuable and contain some remarkable
examples. The Cluny Museum, the Louvre and the museum at Sevres have
fine collections; while noteworthy pieces are to be found in the
Ceramic Museum at Limoges. In Germany the museum at Brunswick contains
one of the largest collections known, but many inferior and doubtful
examples. Berlin, Munich, Vienna and St Petersburg have noteworthy
collections. In Italy, the Bargello at Florence and the museums of
Venice, Milan, Turin, Faenza, Pesaro, Urbino, Rome and Naples all have
collections, whilst interesting examples of local manufactures are to
be found