Greek terracotta figurines

For the larger models, the coroplast (κοροπλάστης koroplástēs, maker of figurines) pressed the clay pellets or wads against a wooden restraint.

Bivalvular molds, borrowed by the insular Greeks from the Egyptians, require cutting to obtain an obverse and a reverse, with which "keys" are sometimes associated protuberances allowing the two parts to fit better.

When the piece becomes complicated, with important projections (arm, legs, head, clothing), the craftsman can cut out the mold in smaller parts.

The second phase consists of applying a layer of raw clay inside the mold, which can be incised beforehand in order to obtain effects of relief.

The faces of the mold are joined together, the object is then unmolded, and the craftsman can proceed to the final improvements, typically smoothing the junction.

The limbs are then joined to the body either by pasting them with slip, clay mixed with water, or by mortice and tenon joint.

The pigments were natural mineral dyes: ochre for yellow and red, coal for black, malachite for green.

Excavations at many ancient Greek temples have found abundant quantities of votive or funerary figurines and why there is almost no document written on their subject.

During pregnancy, future mothers had care to offer a figurine to Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth: the statuette represents a woman squatting, in full labor, according to the Eastern practice.

During early childhood, figurines of squatting children were given —a representation of Eastern origin, arrived in Greece via Rhodes and Cyprus.

They were also deposited in places of worship outdoors: Socrates recognized a sacred spring on seeing figurines on the ground (Phaedrus 230B).

By the Hellenistic era, the figurines became grotesques: deformed beings with disproportionate heads, sagging breasts or prominent bellies, hunchbacks and bald men.

They were coated with a liquid white slip before firing, and were sometimes painted afterwards in naturalistic tints with watercolors, such as the "Dame en Bleu" ("Lady in Blue") at the Louvre.

Tanagra figures depict real women, and some men and boys, in everyday costume, with familiar accessories such as hats, wreaths or fans.