In the ancient world, terracotta sculpture was ubiquitous. Readily available and economical—unlike stone suitable for carving—clay allowed artisans to craft figures of remarkable variety and expressiveness. Terracottas from South Italy and Sicily attest to the prolific coroplastic workshops that supplied sacred and decorative images for sanctuaries, settlements, and cemeteries. Sixty terracottas are investigated here by noted scholar Maria Lucia Ferruzza, comprising a selection of significant types from the Getty’s larger collection—life-size sculptures, statuettes, heads and busts, altars, and decorative appliqués. In addition to the comprehensive catalogue entries, the publication includes a guide to the full collection of over one thousand other figurines and molds from the region by Getty curator of antiquities Claire L. Lyons.

• Director’s Foreword, Timothy Potts
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Classification
• Production Techniques
• Map of South Italy and Sicily
• Catalogue
  • Taranto Region (Cats. 1–37)
  • Canosa (Cats. 38–46)
  • Medma (Cats. 47–48)
  • Other South Italy (Cats. 49–50)
  • Sicily (Cats. 51–60)
• Guide to the Collection of South Italian and Sicilian Terracottas, Claire L. Lyons
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Authors
• Index

Maria Lucia Ferruzza is an archaeologist in the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity and manages conservation projects, cultural agreements, and exhibitions with national and international institutions. During her tenures at the Archaeological Superintendencies of Palermo and Trapani and subsequently at the Regional Center for Planning and Restoration in Palermo (1990s–2005), she participated in field surveys and excavations, exhibition organization, and research. Following a 1985–86 internship at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where she studied the collection of terracottas, Ferruzza has published frequently on the coroplastic arts in ancient Italy and on the collecting of antiquities.

Claire L. Lyons, curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, is a specialist in the art and archaeology of Sicily, Greece, and pre-Roman Italy.