Terra cotta, from the Italian for 'baked earth', is any fired earthenware product, especially one made from coarse, porous clay, red-brown in color and unglazed. Being cheap, hard, and durable, it has been used from ancient times for building and roofing, and for molded architectural ornament and statuettes. Its use for sculpture and plaques was revived in the Renaissance and in the 18th century.