om Scripture
history or contemporary peasant life as interpreted by Hans Sebald Beham
and the German and French "Little Masters." Examples are known bearing
dates and names or initials of mould-cutters, among them Ian Emens and
Baldem Mennicken; but it must not always be inferred that a piece is as
old as the date introduced in its decoration, for the same set of moulds
might be used for many years.

Another important centre in the 16th century was at Frechen near
Cologne. Round-bellied jugs known as _Bartmanner_, from the bearded mask
applied in front of the neck, covered with a brown glaze, which in later
examples is often coagulated into thick spots, were first made here
towards the end of the 15th century, and continued to be the staple
product well into the 17th. The jugs of this type, known as Greybeards
or Bellarmines, which were exported in profusion to England, Scandinavia
and the Low Countries, were mostly made here. At Cologne itself there
were also factories, probably before the 16th century, the later
productions of which resemble those of Frechen.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the busiest stoneware centre was the
district surrounding Hohr-Grenzhausen in Nassau known as the
Kannebackerlandchen, where artistic ware was being made before 1600.
Soon after that date manganese purple was first used in the decoration
in addition to cobalt blue, and henceforward colour in combination with
impressed and incised ornament tended more and more to supersede
decoration in relief. Figure subjects gave place to rosettes, foliage on
wavy stems, and geometrical patterns. Vessels of large size and
fantastic shape appear beside the standard forms of the earlier
factories. In the 18th century the forms of beer-vessels became
stereotyped in the globular jug with cylindrical neck and the
cylindrical tankard, while tea and coffee pots, inkstands and other
vessels, hitherto unknown, began to be made. A stoneware manufacture
dating back to the middle ages existed at Creussen in Bavaria. The
productions of this district during the 17th and 18th centuries consist
of tankards of squat shape, jugs and jars, of a dark red body, covered
with a lustrous dark brown glaze, frequently painted after the first
firing in brilliant enamel colours with figures of the Apostles, the
electors of the Empire, or other oft-repeated motives. Imitations of the
wares of Raeren and Grenzhausen were made at Bouffioulx near Charleroi;
other minor cen