Terracotta

“ In architecture, Etruscan temples, having been made of wood, do not survive above their foundation courses, but recent discoveries of terracotta temple-models at Vulci tell us something about their appearance, and masses of their terracotta revetment survive, brightly-painted geometric, vegetable, or mythological motifs, designs to cover beams, mask the ends of half-round roof tiles, or (in pierced patterns called à jour crestings) to follow the slope of a gable roof. ”

“ Antefixes and gutter-cornices, where they occur, must always be regarded as serving ornamental rather than necessary purposes. All early work in terracotta at Pompeii is of coarse clay, but good execution; later, the reverse is the case. The only public building in which many remains of terracotta tiles and cornices have been preserved is the temple of Isis; but the Basilica may also have had terracotta decoration. Many fragments also remain from private houses, some actually in situ, having been neglected by early explorers as unimportant. ”

“ The present method of constructing buildings in reinforced concrete, faced with glazed or unglazed terracotta, will afford the architects of the 20th century an unrivalled opportunity for the use of this material. Collections.-The Louvre, British Museum, and the museums of Berlin and Athens have remarkably fine collections of the Greek and Roman terracotta, and many provincial museums, such as those of Florence, Perugia, Rome, Naples, Nimes and Arles, have also collections of importance. ”

“ Until World War II, when they were wantonly destroyed, the finds in terracotta from the arx were preserved in the local museum. There were revetments, plaques forming a thin veneer of fired clay, with nail-holes for affixing them to the wooden frame of a typical Tuscan temple. They included archaic antefixes: ornamental terracotta caps to mask the unsightly ends of half-round roof tiles. ”

“ It is interesting also to find relief-work in terracotta as well as painting on a plane surface. An example where color and relief thus unite, which comes from a temple in Caere, 52 might very well have been copied from a vase design. It represents a female face in relief, as occurs so often in Greek pottery, surrounded by an ornament of lotus, maeander and palmette. Such a raised surface is far from unusual; and we seem to find here an intermediate stage between painting and sculpture. ”

“ TERRACOTTA IN ROMAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE Clay in Roman architecture—Use of bricks—Methods of construction—Tiles—Ornamental antefixae—Flue-tiles—Other uses—Inscriptions on bricks and tiles—Military tiles—Mural reliefs—List of subjects—Roman sculpture in terracotta—Statuettes—Uses at Rome—Types and subjects—Gaulish terracottas—Potters and centres of fabric—Subjects—Miscellaneous uses of terracotta—Money-boxes—Coin-moulds. ”

“ In the Cyrenaica on the north coast of Africa the influence of Tanagra is apparent, but the style is for the most part degenerate. The terraeottas of Tarentum stand apart from those of other sites, being markedly funereal in character; many represent Dionysos reclining at a banquet. Elsewhere in Southern Italy the types correspond to those of Sicily and other Mediterranean sites. Terracotta work in relief, apart from definitely architectural examples, is almost limited to two small classes, both belonging to the beginning of the 5th century. ”

“ In dealing with the technical character of the terracottas found in Gaul, M. Blanchet points out that the white clay of which many are made (e.g. those from the Allier valley) is not universal; some are made of red or grey clay, which has turned white in the baking, apparently by a process analogous to that used by the Chinese for porcelain, others are actually covered with a white engobe like the Greek terracottas. ”

“ They chip a great deal before they break, just as agate might do.
Terra-cotta is simply earth or clay “baked.” In most of the examples known as terra-cotta, earth predominates. Pure fine clay well fired is superior to what is generally called terra-cotta. Neither can we really class with it articles made of superior Portland cement, of which, as I have said, I have seen many made at Budapest which were like the finest hard slate.
Many writers confuse majolica with faïence; others regard the latter as what we should call crockery, or such ware as ranges between glazed terra-cotta and porcelain. ”

“ Buff terra-cotta, in which is made garden vases, pedestals, chimney-tops, window arches, string-courses, &c. This terra-cotta, being thoroughly vitrified, is valuable for the manufacture of keystones, springers, string-courses, &c., for buildings where durability is of the very highest importance; one great advantage (for architectural purposes) lying in the fact that, in it, the choicest and most elaborate patterns, either raised or countersunk, can be obtained at little more than the cost of perfectly plain stone. ”

“ The terrace of Villa Rosa juts out into the lake, bordered on three sides by a stone parapet, and shaded above by a yellow-ochre awning. Masses of oleanders hang over the wall and drop pink petals into the blue waters below. As a study in color the terrace is perfect, but, like the court-yard of the Hotel du Lac, decidedly too hot for mid-afternoon. To the right of the terrace, however, is a shady garden set in alleys of cypress trees, and separated from the lake by a strip of beach and a low balustrade. There could be no better resting place for a warm afternoon. ”

“ Any want of truth in the lines of a long cornice becomes painfully apparent, and each moulded block of a door or window-jamb must fit accurately on to the next one, or else the line of moulding becomes broken and irregular. Terra-cotta is now made of many different colours, a rich red and a warm ochre or cream colour being the most pleasant to the eye. In order to avoid defects it is necessary that the clay should contain a large proportion of powdered silica, and that the whole mass should be thoroughly homogeneous. ”

“ The truth must be told, and our first view of them was somewhat marred by the outline of figures that were creeping along the horizon after their bath!
It is very beautiful. Terrace after terrace shelving down to the water's edge; with the same delicate and curious formation, the same tender blue in the pools, but not the same dazzling whiteness; for these are coloured with a most delicate shade of pink, streaked in places with carmine. It is caused by the water previously running over red clay, which, becoming diluted, leaves a pink deposit of silica on the Terrace. ”

“ The most important application of terra-cotta in mediaeval Italy was to statuary—reliefs, busts, and even groups of many life-sized figures—during the 15th and 16th centuries. Much of the Florentine terra-cotta sculpture of the 15th century is among the most beautiful plastic work the world has ever seen, especially that by Jacopo della Quercia, Donatello, and the sculptors of the next generation. [18] For life, spirit, and realistic truth, combined with sculpturesque breadth these pieces are masterpieces of invention and manipulation. ”

“ Proceeding in a northerly direction, we pass on until we reach a flight of steps, by which we gain the lower terrace, or Italian [I-156] flower-garden. At the bottom of these steps are stone recesses, built under the terrace above, in which streams of water fall from dolphins’ mouths into bronze basins. Crossing the terrace by the path facing the steps, the visitor turns to the right, examining the flowers and the fountains, until he arrives at the central steps leading to the circular basin, from which point a most admirable view of the whole crystal structure is obtained. ”

“ Terra-Cotta Works.—The Terra-Cotta Works at Hele Cross, Torquay, were established in October, 1875, by Dr. Gillow, who that year discovered the bed of clay, and are worked by a Limited Liability Company, with that clever and energetic gentleman as chairman and general director. The clay is of remarkably fine, tenacious, and durable quality, and is capable of working to the very highest degree of perfection. Its colour is a rich full red, and its surface almost metallic in its hardness and fine texture ”

“ The upper terrace preserves traces of its formal parterres and box-hedges. Thence flights of steps lead down to a long bowling-green between hedges, like that at the Gamberaia. A farther descent reveals another terrace-garden, with clipped hedges, statues and fountains; and thence sloping alleys radiate down to stone-edged pools with reclining river-gods in the mysterious shade of the ilex-groves. Statues are everywhere: in the upper gardens, nymphs, satyrs, shepherds, and the cheerful fauna of the open pleasance ”

“ If the terrace be wide, raised beds with stone edging, set on the inner side of the terrace, say alternately long beds with dwarf flowering shrubs or hydrangeas, and circles with standard hollies, or marble statues on pedestals, that shall alternate with pyramidal golden yews, have a good effect, the terrace terminating with an arbour or stone Pavilion. Modern taste, however, even if it condescend so far as to allow of a terrace, is content with its grass plot and gravel walks, which is not carrying Art very far. ”

“ Around the red perpendicular walls, except under the great arc of stone, ran a terrace fringed at the cliff-base by silver spruces; below that first terrace sloped another wider one densely overgrown with aspens, and the center of the valley was a level circle of oaks and alders, with the glittering green line of willows and cottonwood dividing it in half. Venters saw a number and variety of birds flitting among the trees. ”

“ W. and T. Wills, sculptors, having turned their attention to the production of works of art in terra-cotta, commenced the manufacture at this place. The works produced consist of vases, figures and groups of figures, busts, &c., of a size and character for drawing-room use. The subjects are principally mythological, and are admirably modelled—each piece sent out receiving its finishing touches from the artist’s own hands. In colour, Messrs. Wills’ terra-cottas are a delicate pink and deep rich red. ”

“ Tregenna followed her in silence as she went out, and took, without looking behind her, the path that led, through winding walks, and between quaint, stiff yew hedges, to the Italian garden. There a broad terrace, with a stone balustrade, led down to bright beds of late autumn flowers, still pretty and fragrant, though they were growing tall and straggling at this late season, and were, in places, nipped with the early frosts of the coming winter. ”

“ Instead, terrace after terrace of shaven sward, stone-edged, urn-cornered, stepped delicately down to where the stream, now tamed and educated, passed from one to another marble basin, in which on occasion gleams of red hinted at gold-fish in among the spreading water-lilies. The scene lay silent and slumbrous in the brooding noon-day sun: the drowsing peacock squatted humped on the lawn, no fish leapt in the pools, nor bird declared himself from the environing hedges. ”

“ Unglazed terra cotta, an artistic product eminently suited to our climate and to our urban architecture, has but partially developed itself, and this more in the direction of moulded and cast work than that of really plastic art ”

“ There is a noble semicircular expanse, flanked on either hand by a terrace, adorned with busts and vases, and with stairs descending to the garden, which stretches down to a belt of pine trees, cut away a little in the centre to reveal that 196 band of heavenly blue which is the sea. The young trees standing by the pine are in fresh leaf; the grass is full of poppies; white butterflies are skimming to and fro across it; all is silent and deserted. A bare-armed stable-boy comes out to train a skinny pony round the terrace. ”

“ I frequently find here flat pieces of terra-cotta with painted or impressed ornaments, which must have served for coating the interior walls of the houses (Nos. 137 and 139) . At a depth of from 10 to 11 feet, and sometimes of only 61⁄2 feet, below the surface, I am bringing to light Cyclopean house-walls, built of unwrought [80] stones, joined without clay or cement, and founded on the natural rock, from 20 to 24 feet below the surface. The corner-stones of these mansions are remarkable for their massiveness. ”

“ No one who has seen an Italian garden, so arranged, can dispute the beauty of it. It may be suggested that in England it would be difficult to protect the terra-cotta from cracking in frosty weather. Experience in southern counties has been favourable, and should it not be so in colder places, they can be put under cover for the winter months. ”

“ In terra-cotta, which is of a remarkably light and fine quality, and of a warm buff colour, many elegant articles are made. These are flower vases of various designs, lotus vases, garden and other vases, wine-coolers, water-bottles, ewers with snake handles, flower-stands, Stilton-cheese stands and trays, fern stands, fonts, Indian scent jars, butter coolers, mignionette boxes, and many other articles of artistic excellence. ”

“ Second, the light buff or glypto terra cotta. The clay out of which this is made underlies the red terra cotta clay and varies in thickness from six to twenty feet; it is very hard and difficult to be ground to a proper fineness. This terra cotta when burnt resembles very much Bath stone in colour, and may, if it be kept dry from the time it is burnt to the time it is used, be cut and carved with much ease, and it is very suitable for head-stones, &c. ”