The colouring of statuettes may be considered a fairly universal practice, although not always suggested by their present appearance. The earlier archaic specimens were not always, or only roughly, coloured, and those of the Roman period seem to have been often left plain; but otherwise it is the general rule. The surface on which the colours were applied was formed by a white slip or _engobe_ of a creamy colour and consistency, with which the whole figure (except the back) was coated. This when dry becomes very flaky, and is liable to drop off, carrying the colours with it; most statuettes retain at least traces of this coating. The method of painting is that known as _in tempera_, the pigments being opaque, mixed with some stiffening medium. The colouring was as a rule conventional, aiming at giving the figure a pleasing appearance, without any particular regard to nature. It was applied after the firing, as in that process the colours would have been liable to injury. The tints are what are known as body-colours, without any attempts at shading, and those usually employed are red, blue, yellow, and black, the white slip forming a ground throughout, and left untouched over the nude parts and often over the drapery; of these the favourites, especially for drapery, were blue and red, as also we learn from Lucian.[411] Pollux says it was a speciality of the κοροπλάθοι to colour their figures yellow, or with a golden tint.[412] The reds range in shade from scarlet to rose-colour and purple. At all times there was a tendency to treat the drapery in masses of colour, and this we see especially in the Tanagra figures, in which the chiton is almost invariably blue, the himation rose-pink. At a later date it became more customary to leave the drapery white, with borders and stripes only of colour. Black was only used for details of features, such as the eyes; green is very rare; and yellow was employed (in a deep brownish shade) for the hair, and also for jewellery, etc. The use of gilding is at all times rare in the statuettes; but some good examples are known—as, for instance, two archaic statuettes from the Polledrara tomb, and a head of Zeus, all in the British Museum.[413] Imitation jewellery in terracotta gilt is not at all uncommon. On many of the earlier figures from Cyprus the drapery is indicated by stripes of red and yellow laid directly on the clay, while animals are usually decorated with stripes of red and black; the method employed is the same as on the contemporary vases (p. 253). Similarly, in the terracottas of the Mycenaean and Geometrical periods, such as those from Boeotia, the technique of the painted vases is closely followed, and the same decorative patterns are employed.