page_title: Campana reliefs
section_title: Material, technique, production, and painting
hierarchical_section_title: Campana reliefs / Material, technique, production, and painting
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Aufsatzplatte eines Campanareliefs im Museum August Kestner in Hannover (Inv.-Nr. 1338): Weinerntene Satyrn; mattroter Ton; farbliche Rekonstruktion English: Campana plaque in the Museum August Kestner in Hannover (Inv.-Nr. 1338): Satyrs; Clay; polychrome reconstruction
context_page_description: Campana reliefs are Ancient Roman terracotta reliefs made from the middle of the first century BC until the first half of the second century AD. They are named after the Italian collector Giampietro Campana, who first published these reliefs.
  The reliefs were used as friezes at the top of a wall below the roof, and in other exterior locations, such as ridge tiles and antefixes, but also as decoration of interiors, typically with a number of sections forming a horizontal frieze. They were produced in unknown quantities of copies from moulds and served as decoration for temples as well as public and private buildings, as cheaper imitations of carved stone friezes. They originated in the terracotta tiled roofs of the Etruscan temples. A wide variety of motifs from mythology and religion featured on the reliefs as well as images of everyday Roman life, landscapes and ornamental themes. Originally they were painted in colour, of which only traces of this occasionally remain. They were mainly produced in the region of Latium around the city of Rome, and their use was also largely limited to this area. Five distinct types were produced.
context_section_description: The quality of the ceramic product depended principally on the quality and processing of the clay. Particular importance attached to the tempering, when the clay (of uniform consistency) had various additives mixed in: sand, chopped straw, crushed brick, or even volcanic  pozzolan. These additives minimised the contraction of the tile as it dried so that it retained its shape and did not develop cracks. These additives can be recognised as little red, brown, or black flecks, especially noticeable when crushed brick is used. Through the investigation of closed collections in the archaeological collection of Heidelberg University and the Museum August Kestner in Hannover gradations in the fineness of the structure were determined.
  The tiles were not individually made as unique artworks but as series. From an original relief (the punch) a mould in the shape of a negative was produced. Then the moist clay was pressed into these moulds. Probably the image and the framing decoration were formed separately, since framing decoration is seen which has been applied to various designs. After they had dried, the tiles were removed from the mould and possibly lightly reworked. Then they were fired. After firing and cooling, the terracotta was painted, though sometimes the paint was applied before firing. Usually the reliefs received a coating, which acted as a surface for painting. This could be white paint or grey-yellow paint in Augustan times but it could also be stucco. 
  At present, no canonical, prescribed use of colours can be detected, except that at least from Augustan times the background was usually in light blue regardless of the scenes and motifs, but it could include two or more other colours as well. The colour of human skin was usually in something between dark red and hot pink. In Dionysiac scenes, skin could also be painted a reddy-brown. In Augustan times light yellow was not unusual for skin. At Hannover, violet-brown, reddy brown, purple, red, yellow, yellow-brown, turquoise-green, dark bown, pink, blue, black, and white can all be identified. Today the paint is lost in almost all cases and only residual traces can be recognised.
caption: Satyrs harvesting grapes on a ridge tile in the Museum August Kestner, Hannover: Coloured reconstruction
exif: {}