hieratic scale

Examples of hieratic scale in the following topics:

• Sculpture in Mesopotamia

  • Each register features hieratic scale, in which the queen (upper register) and the king (lower register) are larger than their subjects.
  • Like the cylinder seal found in Queen Puabi's tomb, the figures in the Tell Asmar Hoard show hieratic scale.
  • In typical hieratic fashion, Naram Sin appears larger than his soldiers and his enemies.
  • Each figure is set apart from his or her subjects through hieratic scale.

• Sculpture of the Early Dynastic Period

  • The small-scale sculptures of the Early Dynastic Period in ancient Egypt provide insight into the foundations of Egyptian customs and the unification of the country.
  • The model is small scale (8.2 cm high), was fired at a low temperature, and was originally painted.
  • As in the art of many cultures of ancient times, the palette contains hieratic scale, in which Narmer is the largest figure.

• Manuscript Printing

  • The scale of the figures is hieratic; The Virgin and Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist tower over the donor and his wife, who are themselves slightly larger than the faithful sheltered by the Virgin's robe.
  • The scale of the figures is hieratic; The Virgin and Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist tower over the donor and his wife, who are themselves slightly larger than the faithful sheltered by the Virgin's robe.

• Carolingian Metalwork in the Early European Middle Ages

  • Metalwork subjects were often narrative religious scenes in vertical sections, largely derived from Late Antique paintings and carvings, as were those with more hieratic images derived from consular diptychs and other imperial art, such as the front and back covers of the Lorsch Gospels.
  • Under Charlemagne, there was a revival of large-scale bronze casting in imitation of Roman designs, although metalwork in gold continued to develop.

• Sculpture of the Early Christian Church

  • The subjects were often narrative religious scenes in vertical sections, largely derived from Late Antique paintings and carvings, as were those with more hieratic images derived from consular diptychs and other imperial art.
  • Charlemagne revived large-scale bronze casting when he created a foundry at Aachen which cast the doors for his palace chapel, in imitation of Roman designs.

• Linear Perspective and Three-Dimensional Space

  • The most important figures are often shown as the highest in a composition, also from hieratic motives, leading to the "vertical perspective" common in the art of Ancient Egypt, where a group of "nearer" figures are shown below the larger figure(s).

• The Book of the Dead

  • Later in the Third Intermediate Period, the Book of the Dead started to appear in hieratic script as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics.

• Light and Value

  • The value scale is used to show the standard variations in tones.
  • The value scale represents different degrees of light used in artwork.

• Proportion and Scale

  • Hierarchical proportion is a technique used in art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork.

• Ivory Carving

  • During the persecution of Christians, such reliefs were typically kept small in scale; those on sarcophagi being the largest.
  • As a result, small-scale sculpture—for which ivory was in many ways the best material—was central to art in a way that it rarely was at other times.