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The article takes a look at the treatment of marble surfaces by examining various busts by sculptor Louis François Roubiliac, particularly the busts of Henry, 9th Earl of Pembroke and other busts at Wilton House in Wiltshire, England. Topics discussed include pattern of the folds of the drapery from the sitter's right shoulder and terracotta relief, connection between Mary, Countess of Pembroke, Martin Folkes and Sir Andrew Fountaine, and finishes characteristic of Roubiliac's marbles.

The article examines the use of relief sculpture on a building's exterior, terracotta, stucco and Coade stone in the Homeric friezes of Ickworth House in Suffolk, England. Topic discussed include influence of neoclassical style on British relief sculpture, materiality of the Ickworth reliefs and its role in the shift in British taste from Roman to Hellenic models, engagement of the reliefs with antique culture, and the Odyssean, Iliadic and athletic scenes depicted by the reliefs.

The article focuses on the discovery and significance of ancient terracotta sculptures from Sierra Leone, examining their stylistic connections with nomoli stone sculptures and their cultural and historical implications for the region. It discusses the acquisition of a notable terracotta figure by the Sierra Leone National Museum in 2013, highlighting its distinctive features and contextualizing it within the broader landscape of West African art history. It also touches upon the interpretation of the figure's iconography, particularly its depiction of a man grasping snakes.

Although literary and epigraphic texts attest to the widespread use of random selection in the ancient Mediterranean, archaeological evidence beyond the Athenian-style kleroterion is rare. A recent discovery at Morgantina may improve this situation: a terracotta ball inscribed with a personal name was recovered in 2018 during excavations inside a house dated to the middle of the third century BCE. A nearly identical ball inscribed with a different name had been excavated in the 1960s in a nearby house of similar date. Here we consider them together, offering a first publication of the two objects and their inscriptions, including their onomastic and social significance. We argue that these objects most likely functioned as lots (κλñροι) for sortition, based on a review of relevant evidence for the theory and practice of sortition from across the Mediterranean. We then discuss the historical context in which the lots were created, used, and discarded: decades of prosperity in eastern Sicily under the hegemony of the Syracusan monarch Hieron II (r. 269-215 BCE). We propose that the inhabitants of Hellenistic Morgantina may have employed random selection for distributing land during a period of demographic and urban growth generated by that prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A glazed terracotta Madonna statue of unknown provenance was analysed. • Material usage and technological features of the statue were revealed. • TL dating verified that the statue is an original Renaissance work of art with an age of 0.58 ± 0.06 ka. Abstract A glazed terracotta statue depicting the Virgin and the Child, dated to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, is a prominent object of the Collection of Sculpture before 1800 of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The provenance of the statue is unknown, it may stem from the place of its 19th-century purchase, Florence or its environs. This paper presents the material analysis and TL dating of the statue and compares the technological features to the glazed sculptural ceramics produced by the della Robbia and Buglioni workshops in the Renaissance Florence. The yellowish ceramic body was made from highly calcareous clay (25 wt% CaO content) and its mineralogical composition indicates an apparent firing temperature of ∼900–950 ̊C. The white tin glaze is of lead-alkali type with 19.2–20.7 wt% SnO 2 , 26–31 wt% PbO and 4.7–7.4 wt% Na 2 O + K 2 O content. Tiny green spots occur sporadically in the white glaze, where the colour is due to the presence of dissolved copper. In these spots, newly-formed potassium-aluminium silicate, calcium-tin silicate and calcium silicate crystals occur at the body-glaze interface and in the glaze. The violet-coloured glaze on the base of the statue contains a lower amount of tin oxide and a higher amount of lead oxide (11.8 wt% SnO 2 , 40 wt% PbO) compared to the white glaze covering the statue. The colour was achieved by addition of manganese, and the violet-coloured glaze was applied on a white glaze covering the body of the base. Based on the TL dating, the statue is unambiguously authentic with an age of 0.58 ± 0.06 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents four previously unpublished terracotta models of sandaled feet from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth. Dated to the late 6th or early 5th century b.c., they are attributed to a local Corinthian workshop, most probably the Potters' Quarter, where three other similar models were produced. Evidence deriving from the sanctuary's other offerings, and from study of footwear in ancient texts and art, suggests that their main association is with female journeys connected to nuptial symbolism. This interpretation also allows me to propose that the models are a type of bridal sandal (nymphides), the first attested in Corinth and the first associated with an Archaic sanctuary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the exhibition Arts of Africa Gallery at Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas, featuring Egungun costume and terracotta sculpture by artist Henry Moor.

The polychromy of limestone and terracotta statues from Cyprus attributed to the sixth to fifth centuries bc is analysed using non- and micro-invasive techniques in order to shed light on the use of pigments during the studied period. The strengths and limitations of these methods for the present application are discussed. The identified pigments are iron-containing compounds (red, yellow, green earths and iron-manganese black). No copper-containing compounds were detected on the studied objects, despite the wide availability of copper minerals in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artistic and historical examination of high-quality glazed terracotta sculptures displayed in various Portuguese museums point to their production in della Robbia workshop of Florence (Italy). A multitechnique analytical approach is applied for the first time to these sculptures, aiming to confirm their origin. Materials were analyzed using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis and X-ray Diffraction. The compositional results are similar to other della Robbia sculptures, suggesting a common origin for the raw material that was identified as carbonate rich marine origin marly clay. The applied firing temperatures was proved to be around 900 °C. The differences found within each sculpture are explained by the production technique of assembling separate parts to produce these huge sculptures, and the clay pit heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about works of sculptor Johann Heinrich von Dannecker. Topics include small replicas of Ariadne produced in bronze, porcelain, alabaster, marble and ivory; works of Von Dannecker titled "Pandora and Tinted Venus" exhibited at international exhibition; and inspiration for works of Dannecker from the ancient Greek myth of Ariadne. It also mention about the making of the Ariadne sculpture with terracotta and various paintings of Von Dannecker and works of artist Carl Hohnbaum.

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Since their discovery in the mid-20th century, the terracottas of the Nok Culture in Central Nigeria, which represent the earliest large-scale sculptural tradition in Sub-Saharan Africa, have attracted attention well beyond specialist circles. Their cultural context, however, remained virtually unknown due to the lack of scientifically recorded, meaningful find conditions. Here we will describe an archaeological feature uncovered at the almost completely excavated Nok site of Pangwari, a settlement site located in the South of Kaduna State, which provided sufficient information to conclude that the terracotta sculptures had been deliberately destroyed and then deposited, emphasising the ritual aspect of early African figurative art. Similar observations were made at various other sites we had examined previously. But the terracottas found at Pangwari not only augmented our insights into the advanced stylistic development of the Nok sculptures, they also exhibited scenes of daily life like a relief of a dugout boat with two paddlers, or remarkable details like a marine shell on the head of a human figure - details indicating trans-regional trade and long-distance contacts. Other finds from Pangwari deepen our knowledge of therianthropic creatures among the terracottas of the Nok Culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Central Nigerian Nok Culture and its well-known terracotta figurines have been the focus of a joint research project between the Goethe University Frankfurt and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria since 2005. One major research question concerns chronological aspects of the Nok Culture, for which a period from around the middle of the first millennium BC to the first centuries AD had been suggested by previous investigations. This paper presents and discusses the radiocarbon and luminescence dates obtained by the Frankfurt Nok project. Combining the absolute dates with the results of a comprehensive pottery analysis, a chronology for the Nok Culture has been developed. An early phase of the Nok Culture's development begins around the middle of the second millennium BC. Its main phase, in which terracotta figurines and iron production appear, starts in the 9th century BC and ends in the 4th century BC. A later phase with vanishing evidence extends into the last centuries BC. On sites dating from the first centuries AD onwards no more Nok terracotta or pottery are found; the end of the Nok Culture is thus set around the turn of the Common Era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently the Nigerian Nok Culture had primarily been known for its terracotta sculptures and the existence of iron metallurgy, providing some of the earliest evidence for artistic sculpting and iron working in sub-Saharan Africa. Research was resumed in 2005 to understand the Nok Culture phenomenon, employing a holistic approach in which the sculptures and iron metallurgy remain central, but which likewise covers other archaeological aspects including chronology, settlement patterns, economy, and the environment as key research themes. In the beginning of this endeavour the development of social complexity during the duration of the Nok Culture constituted a focal point. However, after nearly ten years of research and an abundance of new data the initial hypothesis can no longer be maintained. Rather than attributes of social complexity like signs of inequality, hierarchy, nucleation of settlement systems, communal and public monuments, or alternative African versions of complexity discussed in recent years, it has become apparent that the Nok Culture, no matter which concept is followed, developed complexity only in terms of ritual. Relevant information and arguments for the transition of the theoretical background are provided here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first validation and application of portable Sequentially Shifted Excitation (SSE) Raman spectroscopy for the survey of painted layers in art. The method enables the acquisition of shifted Raman spectra and the recovery of the spectral data through the application of a suitable reconstruction algorithm. The technique has a great potentiality in art where commonly a strong fluorescence obscures the Raman signal of the target, especially when conventional portable Raman spectrometers are used for in situ analyses. Firstly, the analytical capability of portable SSE Raman spectroscopy is critically discussed using reference materials and laboratory specimens, comparing its results with other conventional high performance laboratory instruments (benchtop FT-Raman and dispersive Raman spectrometers with an external fiber optic probe); secondly, it is applied directly in situ to study the complex polychromy of Italian prestigious terracotta sculptures of the 16th century. Portable SSE Raman spectroscopy represents a new investigation modality in art, expanding the portfolio of non-invasive, chemically specific analytical tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the terracotta designs created by 17th century sculptor Artus Quellinus for the town hall of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.