mass so shaped was afterwards burnt in the common kiln; and although, in most instances, the ornamentsare frequently repeated, yet it does not appear to have been the practice to make use of moulds to give formto the clay, but each separate piece was cut out by hand, probably assisted by templates, similar to thosewhich are employed in mason’s work. This is tolerably evident from an inspection of ornaments which,though similar in general form, yet show trifling differences in every example. The works thus produced exhibit,'generally speaking, no pretence either to delicacy of form or finish, and are never minute in character or inthe subdivision of their parts. The principal examples are to be met with in the north-east of Germany ,where a total absence of stone led to the employment of plastic material for the purposes of building anddecoration. The earliest specimens date from the year 1200, but it was during the fourteenth and the commence-ment of the fifteenth centuries that the most important works were executed. The towns of Hamburg andLiibeck, and several now comparatively unimportant places in the old Margraveate of Brandenburg, aboundwith buildings of this period, in which the architectural detail is executed in this rude species of terra-cotta.*
In the latter part of the fifteenth century, the old practice we have described was to a great extentabandoned, and it was not until the commencement of the present century that the manufacture wassuccessfully revived. Although stoves have been for ages made up with pieces of glazed earthenware, through-out Germany , still this manufacture has only attained a high degree of perfection since the beginning of thiscentury; it is extensively carried on in various parts of Prussia, but it is in Berlin and the immediateneighbourhood that the best specimens are produced. There appears to be little doubt that the success whichattended the efforts of those by whom these stoves were brought into the market, induced efforts to be madeto restore the use of terra - cotta for ornamental and architectural purposes, and the name of Schinkel isintimately associated with the introduction of this material as a decorative adjunct to buildings generally.To the influence of the classical taste of this great artist may, perhaps, be attributed much of the eleganceof outline, and the refined delicacy of detail, for which all the Berlin manufactures in various forms of burntclay are now so highly distinguished.
The elaborate architectural details, as well as the bas-reliefs, which enrich the exterior of the Bau-Academie at Berlin, designed by Schinkel , are all executed in terra-cotta, and bear unmistakeable testimony ofhis influence in promoting the rapid progress of the art. That very great care was bestowed upon theexecution of these works, we may infer from the fact, that even the plain bricks forming the outer face ofthe walls of this building, are so highly finished as to approach more nearly to the quality of porcelainthan of brick,— more particularly those forming some of the bands and stripes, which are glazed and tintedof a delicate violet colour.
In subsequent notices we hope to enter more fully into the peculiarities of the style of Luca dellaRobbia , and of the manufacture of terra-cotta as practised in this country.
* An able paper, illustrated by a series of original drawings, was read on the peculiar type of architecture of the “ Mediaeval Brick Buildings inthe North-East of Germany and on the Coast of the Baltic,” by Charles Fowler, jun., at the Royal Institute of British Architects , on Feb. 18th, 1850.