terracotta
(ἀγάλματα ὀπτῆς γῆς, signa fictilia). A part from its use for vases, the Greeks first employed terra-cotta for the roofs and cornices of temples (see antefixa; ectypus), an junovation ascribed to the Corinthian Butades of uncertain date; and the Etruscans and the Romans made the same use of it. These decorations consist of masks or reliefs. Later, statuary was made of the same material. Thus the statue of Iupiter, which one of the Tarquins set in the Capitol, was of terra-cotta (Pliny H. N. xxxv. 157), and in the front pediment of the same temple was a quadriga of terra-cotta. The greater part of the ancient terra-cottas now remaining consist of “figurines” or statuettes representing domestic deities, and also a great variety of models in various colours— white, green, and brown. Great quantities of these have been found in tombs and elsewhere, as at Tanagra, Pompeii, Camirus, Gela, Athens, and Corinth. See Rohden, Terracotten von Pompeii (1880); Henzy, Catalogues des Figures en TerreCuite du Louvre (1883); Kekulé, Griech. Terracotten aus Tanagra (1878); Martha, Catalogues des Figurines des Museés d'Athènes (1880); and the article fictile.
- images of: Paus. 1.3.1