Terracotta

The word terracotta originates quite literally from the Italian translation "baked earth" and its use across the globe has a prominent place in history (and continues to be vastly used today).

One of its earliest reference points was in prehistoric art, with some of the oldest pottery of time being found as far back as 24,000 BC. Interestingly, these early pieces were found to be Palaeolithic terracotta figurines, rather than cooking vessels, as you might expect, demonstrating how widely terracotta has been used in the art. Perhaps, terracotta’s most famous use in art was China’s Terracotta Army, which is a magnificent collection of terracotta figures of over 8,000 soldiers and 520 horses. It was found in the First Emperor of China, Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum (246 to 208 BCE, but not discovered until 1974 by local Chinese farmers). Terracotta is widely preferred for sculpture, given its thick and malleable texture and eases to be molded. It’s a far easier material to work with than say marble or bronze. Terracotta also has a close link to architecture, most commonly in roof tiles and brickwork, as it’s incredibly durable, beautiful in colour and one of the cheapest clays to work with.

Terracotta is one of the most distinct types of clay you’ll find, given its rich, rust red/orange colouring. The reason for this distinct colour is that the iron content in terracotta’s clay body reacts with oxygen and gives it a hue that ranges through reds, oranges, yellows, and even pinks.

The properties of terracotta are that it’s a porous clay to work with, and it can also be used glazed and unglazed, which adds to its appeal. One coat of glaze is needed to make it waterproof. When terracotta is glazed, bright colours are often favored because they work brilliantly with terracotta’s low-firing temperature (approximately 1100 C/2012 F to 1200 C/2192 F to create a striking contrast with its orange body). These low firing temperatures also mean lower energy costs.

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