What is terracotta?
Humans have been producing “fired clay” or terracotta for centuries, and it is still common today.
Terracotta has been part of the human landscape for millennia; however, many people still cannot describe exactly what it is. And this makes sense. We are basically talking about cooked clay, hence the term. It comes from Italian: “Cooked clay”. Its provenance is simple: modelled clay that, later, after being hardened by the fire’s heat, becomes something else. From purely utilitarian objects to true works of art. The reasoning is simple: its adaptability, which makes it easy to mould into the desired shape. From a jug to a vase, from a simple rough brick to the most exquisite sculpture. It has always been this way, in all periods, ever since humans discovered the material.
In fact, the birth of terracotta dates back to Prehistory. For over 30,000 years it has been used to make household items, sculptures and architectural decoration. Also for statues or reliefs, always with ceremonial or deictic features. Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Mesoamerica, Greece, Rome… they all have in common the use of terracotta. As for heritage, the most obvious case is what first comes to mind for many: the terracotta warriors.
A collection of terracotta statues that represent figures of the warriors and horses of the army of the self-proclaimed first emperor of China of the Qin Dynasty, one of the 20th century’s major archaeological discoveries. UNESCO World Heritage Site and an outstanding representation of the extent to which terracotta is an essential part of human history.
How is terracotta made?
Beyond art or heritage, terracotta is essentially the most elemental expression of ceramic. It all has to do mainly with the heat and how long it is applied. With the firing. And, especially, the purpose of the modelled clay. Historically, terracotta basically had a purely architectural purpose. Both in the Middle Ages and in the Gothic period. Its purpose was to highlight the architectural lines, thanks to the contrast between the reddish terracotta and the grey stone. And this is another of terracotta’s distinctive features: its colour. The reddish thickness, recognisable with the naked eye, rustic and close, gives the impression that it was always there.
And this makes sense. From an artistic standpoint, it is true that terracotta went through a period of decline in the Renaissance. Marble and its by-products were all the rage, but even with such an extreme change in tastes, terracotta, even in its aesthetic variant, was still used as the main material for garden statues, also in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Currently it is becoming more and more widespread both in architecture and in interior design. Especially thanks to its sustainable nature. Long before we ever heard of decelerationism or sustainable homes, terracotta already did its job in the walls of homes. Whether to keep in the heat or the cool, depending on the season, bricks or tiles were used to decorate thanks to their porousness, rusticity and beauty. In short, terracotta is still what it was and will be: one of the materials most used by humans, for many reasons.
