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About 2,300-year-old black terracotta figurines attract visitors
Terracotta has not always sported the popular brick red tint. Although the basic colour found is still the same but the terra-cotta figurines found in Mathura and belonging to 3rd century BC are surprisingly black in colour.
Terracotta has not always sported the popular brick red tint. Although the basic colour found is still the same but the terra-cotta figurines found in Mathura and belonging to 3rd century BC are surprisingly black in colour.
These figurines have been showcased by the Allahabad Museum and attract the attention of those who are much interested in grasping more details about this ancient art. "We have no dearth of such figurines here which divulge some interesting facts about our tradition and culture," said Dr SK Sharma, director of the museum.
"These figurines which are black in colour are basically due to the technique with which they were baked. Smoke absorbed by them was also the cause of their acquiring black colour and the clay used was black," said Dr Prabhakar Pandey, keeper education.
Another significant aspect of the figurines belonging to the Mauryan period point towards the fact that the use of moulds were started by the artistes. Few figurines which were detached from the head show the system of socket and hole technique of attachment.
"This means that the head part of the figurine was made by moulding and the rest of the body part was hand-made," added Dr Pandey.
The hands are made straight without exposing any joint and even the legs are made apart. "The artistes were not acquainted with much of the human anatomy," he stated.
"The pieces found in Mathura belong to the folk art tradition as such tradition of crude style is still popular among the folk artistes. In contrast, during that period the sculptures made by the artistes appointed by the rulers had very intricate designs and they are still counted among few of the popular heritages," said Dr Sriranjan Shukla, assistant helper.
The figurines have adorned too much of jewellery which shows that it was quite popular during the period. Main among the figurines are that of mother and child and mother goddess.
According to Dr Shukla, later the artistes started using the mixture of husk and clay to prepare the artifacts. "This helped in giving shades to the creation since husk was burnt earlier and clay took time to get baked. However, the basic concept was the oxidation at different stages," he said.
"We still come across the black terracotta figurines in Mathura and sometimes even in the city which shows that the tradition has continued," added Dr Pandey.
