Terracotta

The Bell Edison Telephone Building, Birmingham, England.

Glazed building decoration at the Forbidden City, Beijing, China.

Rare terracotta image of Isis lamenting the loss of Osiris (Eighteenth Dynasty, Ancient Egypt) Musée du Louvre, Paris

Terracotta, sometimes spelled terra cortta, is a red clay-based baked ceramic, usually unglazed.

Its uses include vessels, water and waste water pipes and surface embellishment in building construction, along with sculpture such as the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines. The term is also used to refer to items made out of this material and to its natural, brownish orange color, which varies considerably.

Production and properties

Clay is partially dried and cast, molded, or hand worked into the desired shape. After thorough drying, it is placed in a kiln, or atop combustible material in a pit, and then fired.

After pit firing the hot ware is covered with sand to cool, and after kiln firing the kiln is slowly cooled. When unglazed, the material will not be waterproof, but it is suitable for in-ground use to carry pressurized water (an archaic use), for garden ware, and sculpture or building decoration in tropical environments, and for oil containers, oil lamps, or ovens. Most other uses such as for table ware, sanitary piping, or building decoration in freezing environments require that the material be glazed. Terracotta, if uncracked, will ring if lightly struck, but not as brightly as will ware fired at higher temperature, which is called stoneware. The fired material is weak compared to stoneware.

Some types of terracotta are created from clay that includes recycled terracotta ("grog").

The unglazed color after firing can vary widely, but most common clays contain enough iron to cause an orange, orangish red, or brownish orange color, with this range including various colors described as "terracotta". Other colors include yellow, gray, and pink.

Terracotta Media

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  International Gothic Bohemian bust of the Virgin Mary; c. 1390–1395; terracotta with polychromy; 32.5 x 22.4 x 13.8 cm

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  Contemporary glazed terracotta casserole dish

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  Bust of Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun; by Augustin Pajou; 1783; terracotta; height: 55cm, width: 44cm, thickness: 21cm

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  Fragments of female terracotta figurines. Handmade, with appliquéd ornaments, especially elaborate coiffures and fan-shaped headdresses. From Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), Mature Harappan Period (c. 2600–1900 BCE). British Museum.

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  Greek terracotta figurine or Tanagra figurine, 2nd century BCE; height: 29.2 cm

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  The River Rhine Separating the Waters; by Claude Michel; 1765; terracotta; 27.9 × 45.7 × 30.5 cm; Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas, US)

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  Imperial roof decoration in the Forbidden City

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  Animal Figurines. In Terracotta, c. 2500–2000 BCE. From Harappan Sites including Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, and Lothal. Presently kept at the National Museum in Delhi, India.