Terra cotta (Italian: "baked earth") is a ceramic. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός ( keramikos) Its uses include vessels, water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in building construction. In the fields of Architecture and Civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the Building or assembling of Infrastructure The term is also used to refer to items made out of this material and to its natural, brownish orange color.
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Production and properties
An appropriate refined clay ("grog") is partially dried and cast, molded, or hand worked into the desired shape. Grog (also called firesand or chamotte) is a Ceramic raw material After further 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. Terra cotta, if uncracked, will ring if lightly struck, but not as brightly as will ware fired at higher temperature, which is called stoneware. Stoneware a Vitreous or semivitreous ceramic ware of fine texture made primarily from nonrefactory fire clay The fired material is relatively weak compared to stoneware.
Some types of terra cotta are created from grog made from recycled terra cotta.
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 "terra cotta". Other colors include yellow, gray, and pink.
History
Terra cotta has been used throughout history for sculpture and pottery, as well as bricks and roof shingles. Pottery is the Ceramic ware made by potters It also refers to a group of materials that includes Earthenware, Stoneware A brick is a block of Ceramic material used in Masonry construction laid using mortar. Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements In ancient times, the first clay sculptures were dried (baked) in the sun after being formed. Later, they were placed in the ashes of open hearths to harden, and finally kilns were used, similar to those used for pottery today. Kilns are thermally insulated chambers or Ovens in which controlled temperature regimes are produced However only after firing to high temperature would it be classed as a ceramic material. The most famous terra cotta statues are those of the Terracotta Warriors in China. The Terracotta Army ( are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China.
Uses
Significant uses of terra cotta have included Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army of China, built in 210–209 BC. Qin Shi Huang ( (259 BC – September 10 210 BC personal name Yíng Zhèng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (during the The Terracotta Army ( are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China. Events By place Roman Republic Following the death of his father Publius Cornelius Scipio, and his uncle Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Events By place Roman Republic The Romans under Fabius Maximus Cunctator capture Tarentum (modern Taranto Mass producers of mold-cast and fired terra cotta figurines were also the ancient Greeks of Tanagra. The Tanager Genus Tangara is often misunderstood to be "Tanagra" French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse made many terra cotta pieces, but possibly the most famous is The Abduction of Hippodameia depicting the Greek mythological scene of a centaur kidnapping Hippodameia on her wedding day. Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse ( June 12, 1824, Anizy-le-Château - June 4, 1887, Sèvres) was a French The Abduction of Hippodameia by the French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887 is a classical subject blended with violent emotion sensuality and raw animal American architect Louis Sullivan is well-known for his elaborate glazed terra cotta ornamentation, designs that would have been impossible to execute in any other medium. Louis Henri Sullivan (September 4 1856 &ndash April 14 1924 was an American Architect, and has been called the "father of modernism. Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a Ceramic Masonry Building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the Terra cotta and tile were used extensively in the town buildings of Victorian Birmingham, England. Birmingham ( ˈbɜːmɪŋəm Ber -ming-um
Precolonial West African sculpture also made extensive use of terra cotta[1]. The regions most recognized for producing terra cotta art in this part of the world include the Nok culture of central and north-central Nigeria, the Ife/Benin cultural axis in western and southern Nigeria (also noted for its exceptionally naturalistic sculpture), and the Igbo culture area of eastern Nigeria, which excelled in terra cotta pottery. The Nok civilization appeared in Nigeria around 500 BC and mysteriously vanished around 200 AD Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Ife (Ifè also Ilé-Ifẹ̀) is an ancient Yoruba City in south-western Nigeria. Benin (bə'nɪn officially the Republic of Benin, and also known as Benin Republic, is a country in Western Africa. These related, but separate, traditions also gave birth to elaborate schools of bronze and brass sculpture in the area.
Crude terra-cotta female figurines were uncovered by archaeologists in excavations of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the two large urban sites that tell about the Indus Valley period (3000-1500 B. C. E. ) in Hindu history. Along with phallus-shaped stones, these suggest some sort of fertility cult and a belief in a Mother Goddess. [2]
In chemistry, pieces of terra cotta are used as a heterogeneous catalyst to "crack" long-chain alkanes. This process is useful for obtaining more useful products, such as gasoline or petrol, from less useful ones, such as highly viscous long chain alkanes.
Advantages in sculpture
As compared to bronze sculpture, terra cotta uses a far simpler process for creating the finished work. Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal Sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze" Reusable mold-making techniques may be used for series production. Compared to marble sculpture and other stonework the finished product is far lighter and may be further glazed to produce objects with color or durable simulations of metal patina. Marble sculpture is the Art of creating three-dimensional forms from marble Robust durable works for outdoor use require greater thickness and so will be heavier, with more care needed in the drying of the unfinished piece to prevent cracking as the material shrinks. Structural considerations are similar to those required for stone sculpture.
Color
Terra cotta is a color between orange and brown.
| Terra cotta | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Hex triplet | #E2725B | |
| B | (r, g, b) | (226, 114, 91) |
| HSV | (h, s, v) | (10°, 70%, 62%) |
| Source | [Unsourced] | |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
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| Dark Terra cotta | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Hex triplet | #CC4E5C | |
| B | (r, g, b) | (204, 78, 92) |
| HSV | (h, s, v) | (354°, 55%, 55%) |
| Source | [Unsourced] | |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) |
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See also
External links
- Article on terracotta in Victorian and Edwardian Terracotta Buildings
- Bibliography, Smithsonian Institution, Ceramic Tiles and Architectural Terra Cotta
- Tile Heritage Foundation (US)
- Friends of Terra Cotta, non-profit foundation to promote education and preservation of architectural Terra Cotta
- Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society (UK)
- Suchismita Goswami's Terra Cotta
- More photos of Terracotta Army'
Footnotes
- ^ H. Web colors are Colors used in designing web pages and the methods for describing and specifying those colors Red is any of a number of similar Colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of Light discernible by the human eye in the wavelength Green is a Color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a Wavelength of roughly 520–570- nm. Blue is a Colour, the Perception of which is evoked by HSL and HSV are two related representations of points in an RGB color space, which attempt to describe perceptual color relationships more accurately than Hue is one of the main properties of a Color described with names such as " Red " " Yellow " etc In Colorimetry and Color theory, colorfulness, chroma, and saturation are related but distinct concepts referring to the perceived intensity Brightness is an attribute of Visual perception in which a source appears to emit or reflect a given amount of Light. Web colors are Colors used in designing web pages and the methods for describing and specifying those colors Red is any of a number of similar Colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of Light discernible by the human eye in the wavelength Green is a Color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a Wavelength of roughly 520–570- nm. Blue is a Colour, the Perception of which is evoked by HSL and HSV are two related representations of points in an RGB color space, which attempt to describe perceptual color relationships more accurately than Hue is one of the main properties of a Color described with names such as " Red " " Yellow " etc In Colorimetry and Color theory, colorfulness, chroma, and saturation are related but distinct concepts referring to the perceived intensity Brightness is an attribute of Visual perception in which a source appears to emit or reflect a given amount of Light. The following is a partial list of Colors with associated articles. Terracotta, in its unglazed form became fashionable as an architectural ceramic construction material in England in the 1860s and in the United States in the 1870s Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a Ceramic Masonry Building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the The Terracotta Army ( are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China. The Smithsonian Institution (smɪθsoʊnɪən is an educational and research institute and associated Museum complex administered and funded by the Government of Meyerowitz; V. Meyerowitz (1939). "Bronzes and Terra-Cottas from Ile-Ife". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 75 (439), 150-152; 154-155.
- ^ Jacob Neusner, ed. World Religions in America. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.
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