Medici porcelain

The first successes were finally reported in 1575 by the Venetian ambassador Andrea Gussoni, who mentioned in his brief to the Serenissima that Francesco discovered the means of making "the porcelain of India," (i.e. the East Indies).

[4] Gussoni mentioned in particular the four qualities that made porcelain desirable, apart from its exotic rarity: its transparency, hardness, lightness and delicacy; it has taken him ten years to discover the secret, but a Levantine showed him the way to success.

[5]However, the entire project was ultimately relatively short-lived; the high-firing temperature pushed sixteenth century technical capability to its limit, resulting in exorbitant production costs.

[6] The Victoria and Albert Museum describes is as 'Fritware made with white Vicenza clay and ground rock crystal with painted floral decoration in blue under a layer of transparent lead-glaze.

[10] Body shapes are adapted from maiolica ceramics and silver models; they range from the largest basins and ewers, chargers and plates, to the smallest cruets.