, Hellenistic terracotta, 2nd-century BC (304–347), unearthed in
Chengdu, exhibited at
Chengdu Museum Porcelain and other ceramics are common materials for figurines. Ancient
Greek terracotta figurines, made in moulds, were a large industry by the
Hellenistic period, and ones in bronze also very common. In
Roman art bronze came to predominate. Most of these were religious, and deposited in large numbers in temples as
votive offerings, or kept in the home and sometimes buried with their owner. But types such as
Tanagra figurines included many purely decorative subjects, such as fashionable ladies. There are many early examples from
China, mainly religious figures in
Dehua porcelain, which drove the experimentation in Europe to replicate the process. The first European porcelain figurines, were produced in
Meissen porcelain, initially in a plain glazed white, but soon brightly painted in
overglaze "enamels", and were soon produced by nearly all European porcelain factories. The initial function of these seems to have been as permanent versions of
sugar sculptures which were used to decorate tables on special occasions by European elites, but they soon found a place on mantelpieces and side tables. There was already some production of
earthenware figures in
English delftware and
stoneware, for example by
John Dwight of the
Fulham Pottery in London, and after 1720 such figures became more popular. By around 1750 pottery figures were being produced in large numbers all over Europe.
Staffordshire figures were cheaper versions in
earthenware, and by the late 19th century especially noted for
Staffordshire dog figurines. Genre figurines of gallant scenes, beggars or figurines of saints are carved from pinewood in
Val Gardena,
South Tyrol (
Italy), since the 17th century. == Significant types ==