Terracotta

Terracotta, fired earthenware of a grey, buff, or reddish colour. Terracotta has been used since prehistoric times to make sculptures and figurines, vases, tiles, and bricks. The most notable terracottas of antiquity were the large sculptures and sarcophagi of the Etruscans; the Greeks and Romans mass-produced terracotta objects for architectural decoration. In the Orient, terracotta wares reached a peak in the elaborate and finely painted Chinese tomb figures of the Tang dynasty (618-906). In Europe, terracotta work has flowered periodically—notably in the enamelled ornaments of Renaissance Italy, the delicate lifelike figurines of 18th-century France (especially those by the artist Clodion; 1738-1814), and the Expressionistic modern sculptures of 20th-century artists such as the French sculptor Aristide Maillol.