At the same time the factories of Delft in Holland were producing wares of great technical merit, even very large pieces finely modeled and enameled and painted with great care and deco rated in two or three different styles. There were the pieees which were closely copied from blue and white Chinese porcelain, the resemblance being never complete, because of the different effect of the white background, and also of the blue painting from that of the Chinese ware, but having en especially attractive appearance of its own. There were landscapes often of large size and painted on plaques, square and oblong, of considerable size, often let into ehimney-pieees above the fireplace and the like, and also scenes of domestic life, real genre painting, but usu ally confined to pure blue and and simi lar subjects were painted on small tiles, four or six inches square, many tiles being included in one design. Finally, there are the imitations of the splendid wares of Rouen and other French manufactories, in which case several colors are used. The ware was exported in such immense quantities as to give the name Delf to any faience used in England, and a similar name, spelled Delphes, or in some such way, in France.
Faience, in the strict sense, was less common in the nineteenth century, because much tougher wares were made. The beautiful dishes of Delft and Rouen break very easily and are too soft to be repaired in a lasting way. In France. how ever, many beautiful wares of this kind were made for table use. A breakfast set in faience, with delicate white glaze of peculiar softness, and painted with realistic flower pattern, would cost only half as much as a porcelain set, no more attractive to the eye. but harder, and, on the whole, more agreeable in use, as well as more enduring. In Italy several factories produce modern imitations of ancient majolica and other pieces designed more or less in close agreement with ancient work; and these are genuine faience. Most generally, however, the choicer modern wares, whether for use or adornment, are of some variety of stoneware, of 'ironstone china', of terra-cotta, or of porcelain. See MAJOLICA;