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-2-

the rich book-bindings of the period.

The second period comprises the works posterior to the death of Helene de Hangest, and executed under the influence of her son. The forms are generally architectural. Salt-cellars, triangular or square, give us the Gothic windows of the chapel at Oiron; royal emblems, cyphers, and shields also multiply themselves.

The third period is that of the decline, probably after the death of Charpentier and Bernard.

Upon some of the early specimens are emblems of Francis I., and on a greater number we see the monogram of Henry II., combined with a double C for his Queen Catherine de Medici, or, as it is incorrectly deciphered, with the crescent of Diana of Poitiers. Indeed, so constantly do monograms and emblems attributed to her appear, that this ware is sometimes styled 'Faience de Diane de Poitiers.'

The past of this ware is a true pipeclay, fine and very white; the glaze thin, transparent, and of a yellowish tint. The ornamentation is flat, and consists of initial letters, interlacings, and arabesques impressed in the paste, while soft, with bookbinders' tools, and the indents filled in with coloured pastes so as to present a smooth surface of the finest inlaying, like the niello or damascening of metalwork.

In addition to these elegant niello decorations, the