Etruscan Terracotta Architectural Plaque with Lotus and Palmette Designs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2007

Terracotta architectural plaque with lotus and palmette designs
Etruscan, late 4th century BC
Said to be from Cerveteri

Accession # 96.18.24

Major portions of most Etruscan temples were made of wood, abundantly available in ancient Italy. To protect wooden beams from the elements, they were covered with terracotta slabs of varying dimensions. This mold-made plaque originally was attached to a horizontal beam high on the exterior of an Etruscan temple. It is one of a series that would have created a long decorative frieze for the architrave, the horizontal element just above the columns. Traces of red, blue, and yellow paint indicate how colorful the original appearance of an Etruscan temple must have been.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.