Terracotta

Terracotta, terra cotta or terra-cotta (pronounced ; Italian: 'baked earth', from the Latin terra cocta), a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic, where the fired body is porous. Terracotta is the term normally used for sculpture made in earthenware, and also for various practical uses including vessels (notably flower pots), water and waste water pipes, roofing tiles, bricks, and surface embellishment in building construction. The term is also used to refer to the natural brownish orange color of most terracotta, which varies considerably.Rare terracotta image of Isis lamenting the loss of Osiris (Eighteenth Dynasty, Egypt) Musée du Louvre, ParisThe Etruscan 'Sarcophagus of the Spouses', at the National Etruscan Museum, c 520 BCWealthy 'Middle-class' women: so-called Tanagra figurine, ancient Greece, 325-150 BC, Altes MuseumIndian terracotta figures, Gupta dynastyHan dynasty 'tomb brick' reliefBust of an unidentified man by Pierre Merard, 1786, FranceBritish Museum, Seated Luohan from Yixian, from the Yixian glazed pottery luohans, probably of 1150-1250Maximilien Robespierre, unglazed bust by Claude-André Deseine, 1791Glazed building decoration at the Forbidden City, BeijingTerracotta temple, Bishnupur, India, a famous centre for terracotta templesHindu temple, 1739, Kalna, IndiaTerracotta designs outside the Kantajew Temple, Dinajpur, BangladeshThe Bell Edison Telephone Building, Birmingham, England.The Natural History Museum in London has an ornate terracotta façade typical of high Victorian architecture. The carvings represent the contents of the Museum.Horses in Terracotta form Terracotta, terra cotta or terra-cotta (pronounced ; Italian: 'baked earth', from the Latin terra cocta), a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic, where the fired body is porous. Terracotta is the term normally used for sculpture made in earthenware, and also for various practical uses including vessels (notably flower pots), water and waste water pipes, roofing tiles, bricks, and surface embellishment in building construction. The term is also used to refer to the natural brownish orange color of most terracotta, which varies considerably. This article covers the senses of terracotta as a medium in sculpture, as in the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines, and architectural decoration. Asian and European sculpture in porcelain is not covered. Glazed architectural terracotta and its unglazed version as exterior surfaces for buildings were used in Asia for some centuries before becoming popular in the West in the 19th century. Architectural terracotta can also refer to decorated ceramic elements such as antefixes and revetments, which made a large contribution to the appearance of temples and other buildings in the classical architecture of Europe, as well as in the Ancient Near East. In archaeology and art history, 'terracotta' is often used to describe objects such as figurines not made on a potter's wheel. Vessels and other objects that are or might be made on a wheel from the same material are called earthenware pottery; the choice of term depends on the type of object rather than the material or firing technique. Unglazed pieces, and those made for building construction and industry, are also more likely to be referred to as terracotta, whereas tableware and other vessels are called earthenware (though sometimes terracotta if unglazed), or by a more precise term such as faience. An appropriate refined clay is formed to the desired shape. After drying it is placed in a kiln or atop combustible material in a pit, and then fired. The typical firing temperature is around 1,000 °C (1,830 °F), though it may be as low as 600 °C (1,112 °F) in historic and archaeological examples. The iron content, reacting with oxygen during firing, gives the fired body a reddish color, though the overall color varies widely across shades of yellow, orange, buff, red, 'terracotta', pink, grey or brown. In some contexts, such as Roman figurines, white-colored terracotta is known as pipeclay, as such clays were later preferred for tobacco pipes, normally made of clay until the 19th century.