The painting of the baked statuettes was practically universal. They were first covered entirely with an engobe of white clay and over this the colours were added. The garments show a va riety of bright shades—blue, red, pink, yellow, brown, violet and, rarely, green. The colour of the flesh where preserved is generally reddish or pinkish, of the hair auburn brown, of the lips red, of the eyes blue. Gilt and black appear for details. Unfortu nately the white coating has largely flaked off and with it the colours, leaving only the drab terra-cotta surface.
The purposes for which these statuettes were used, (a) for religious rites, (b) in daily life, (c) in funeral ceremonies, have been the subject of much debate. Since the same types and sub jects are common to each of these classes of discoveries it is obvi ous that the terra-cottas cannot have been intended for one pur pose alone, but served all three.
In Archaic Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.—The standing and seated goddesses (Plate II., fig. 4), in spite of their small dimensions often have a fine dignity and monumental char acter. A certain proportion of these deities are differentiated as nature-goddesses, either as a nude goddess in a shrine or a seated figure with a child in her lap who may be described as the Earth Mother. Both types are of oriental origin. Another common archaic type is the funeral mask or bust, hollow at the back, which is found both in central Greece and Rhodes. Other characteristic products are little figures of animals, groups of men, women, and children, variously occupied, often of delightful spontaneity; and jointed dolls which can only have served the purpose of children's toys.
Terra-cotta statuettes are not nearly so common during the 5th century as in earlier or later times; the types continue those prev alent during the preceding epoch, but with an added serenity. The
most flourishing period of production was from the later 4th to the ist century, B.C., the period of the Tanagra and Myrina statu ettes. These represent no longer divinities, but the people of their time as we might have seen them any day, only transformed into works of art by their makers' sense of beauty. Among the Tana gra statuettes, the most successful are the figures of the women and girls (Plate II., fig. 7). We see them standing in restful poses, sometimes leaning against a pillar, occasionally walking or sitting, but mostly quiet, serene and a little pensive. Only rarely are they portrayed in a definite action, such as doing their hair, carrying a child, or playing games. The youths are less successful, being somewhat conventional. Actors are occasionally found, wearing the customary insignia (Plate II., fig. II), as well as such subjects as old nurses with infants (Plate II., fig. i2), and caricatures. In the Hellenistic period the centre of manufacture shifted from Tanagra to regions outside Greece proper. The little town of Myrina in Asia Minor, for instance, has been rendered famous by the extensive discoveries made there in 188o-1882. A com parison between these later statuettes and the Tanagra examples will show the differences which the Hellenistic spirit produced. Instead of the quiet, gentle women, youths and children of the pre ceding epoch, we have mostly figures in lively attitudes and often of mythological character; and even in the quieter types a new striving for effect is generally noticeable. Caricatures are now favourite subjects. Occasionally the statuettes are signed by their makers, so that we know a few names of these old artists (e.g., Diphilos).
Clever forgeries of such Greek statuettes have been produced in large numbers and have found their way into many private and even public collections. Among them are large mythological groups, and though •many of the figures copy fairly closely the standing and sitting types of the Tanagra figures, even these can generally be recognized by a certain affectation and theatrical quality which stamp them as un-Greek (Plate II., fig. o). Some times the modern pieces are made from moulds taken from ancient statuettes, in which case it is occasionally difficult to pronounce judgment; but even here a certain indefiniteness in contour and often the addition of inappropriate details betray the hand of the forger.