sunk relief

Examples of sunk relief in the following topics:

• Akhenaton and the Amarna Period

  • The period saw the use of sunk relief, previously used for large external reliefs, extended to small carvings and used for most monumental reliefs.
  • Like previous works, faces on reliefs continued to be shown exclusively in profile.
  • In a relief of Akhenaten, he is shown with his primary wife, Nefertiti, and their children in an intimate setting.
  • A relief of a royal couple in the Armana style.
  • This relief illustrates an intimate portrait of Akhenaten and his family in the Amarna style of art.

• Painting of the Early Dynastic Period

  • All Egyptian reliefs were painted, and less prestigious works in tombs, temples and palaces were just painted on a flat surface.
  • The Egyptians used the distinctive technique of sunk relief, which is well suited to very bright sunlight.
  • The main figures in reliefs adhere to the same figure convention as in painting, with parted legs (where not seated) and head shown from the side, but the torso from the front, and a standard set of proportions making up the figure, using 18 "fists" to go from the ground to the hair-line on the forehead.

• Monumental Reliefs in Southeast Asia

  • Reliefs depicting figures that are at least life-size or bigger or are attached to monuments of some sort are termed monumental reliefs by art historians, thus distinguishing them from small metal or ivory reliefs, portable sculptures, and diptychs.
  • Most of ancient Southeast Asian relief sculpture was done in bas-relief, where the projecting images have shallow overall depth, although the kingdom of Champa in southern and central Vietnam excelled in haut-relief sculpture, which was marked by much greater depth and undercut areas.
  • The most famous example of Khmer bas-relief sculpture is undoubtedly at the 12th-century Hindu temple of Angkor Wat, which has 13,000 square meters of narrative bas-reliefs on the walls of its outer gallery.
  • The reliefs have a diverse range of themes.
  • Detail of carved relief from Borobudur, depicting a figure from the Buddhist pantheon.

• Carving

  • Carved sculpture can be "freestanding", where the viewer can walk around the work and view it from all sides, or created in "relief", where the primary form's surface is raised above the surrounding material.
  • Relief, from the Latin "relevo" meaning "to raise", is a sculptural technique in which the surface of stone or wood is carved away, thereby causing the foreground image to appear to be raised.
  • It is a very stable form of sculpture due to the fact that reliefs are often made in stone, and the fact that it remains a solid piece.
  • There are different degrees of relief depending on the height of the sculpted form from the background.
  • The range includes high relief (where more than 50% of the depth is shown), mid-relief, and low or bas-relief (in which the image remains a very shallow extension from its surroundings).

• Art in the Second Millennium B.C.E.

  • The Assyrians, on the other hand, developed a style of large and exquisitely detailed narrative reliefs in painted stone or alabaster.
  • Intended for palaces, these reliefs depict royal activities such as battles or hunting.
  • The Burney Relief is a Mesopotamian terracotta plaque in high relief of the Old-Babylonian period, depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird's talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon supine lions.
  • The relief is dated between 1800 and 1750 BCE.
  • Apart from its distinctive iconography, the piece is noted for its high relief and relatively large size, which suggests that is was used as a cult relief, which makes it a very rare survival from the period.

• Sculpture in Southeast Asia

  • This civilization left an impressive artistic legacy consisting primarily of sandstone sculptures, both in the round and in relief.
  • The Cham created freestanding sandstone sculptures in the round, as well as high and bas-relief carvings of sandstone.
  • In general, they appear to have preferred sculpting in relief, and they excelled especially at sculpture in high relief.
  • The Birth of Brahma, sandstone relief, My Son, Vietnam, 7th century
  • The relief sculpture shows the birth of the Hindu god Brahma from a lotus growing from the navel of Vishnu.

• Sculpture in the Vijayanagar Empire

  • Vijayanagar sculpture can most commonly be seen in the reliefs, pillars, and monolithic statues of temples.
  • The mingling of South Indian styles resulted in a richness not seen in earlier centuries, including a focus on reliefs in addition to sculpture that surpassed that seen previously in India.
  • Preferred for its durability, local hard granite was the building material of choice for architecture; however, soapstone, which was soft and easily carved, was commonly used for reliefs and sculptures.

• Wiligelmo and Other Forms of Architecture

  • Wiligelmo was the carver of the Creation and Temptation of Adam and Eve (ca. 1110) reliefs at the west façade of the Duomo di Modena (Cathedral of Modena) in Italy .
  • On Piazza Grande, the Porta Regia ("Royal Gate"), by the campionesi, and the shorter Porta dei Principi ("Princes' Gate"), are decorated by a pupil of Wiligelmus' with a relief depicting episodes of the life of Saint Geminianus.
  • On the northern side is the Porta della Pescheria ("Fish-Market Gate"), with reliefs inspired by the cycle of the year's twelve months (on the doorposts) and tales from the Breton Cycle of King Arthur (on the arch).
  • Wiligelmo was the carver of the Creation and Temptation of Adam and Eve (ca. 1110) reliefs at the west facade of the Duomo di Modena (Cathedral of Modena) in Italy.
  • A relief from St Trophime, Arles, showing King Herod and the Three Kings.

• Victory Columns under the Nervan-Antonines

  • It stands on top of a large pedestal carved with a relief of the spoils of war.
  • The visual narration is depicted in low relief (bas relief) and relies little on naturalistic detail, preferring to show some scenes in multiple perspectives and with figures on different ground lines.
  • It is uncertain how much of the column's relief Romans would have been able to see.
  • The relief carvings are high enough to protrude from the sides and be visible when viewing the non-decursio side of the pedestal.
  • A relief frieze encircles the column and depicts Marcus Aurelius's military campaigns at the end of his life in Germania.

• Sculpture in Mesopotamia

  • In addition to reliefs of animals, reliefs of reed bundles, sacred objects associated with Inanna, adorn the exterior of the trough.
  • The figures are depicted in high relief to amplify the dramatic significance of the scene.
  • Babylonian culture somewhat preferred sculpture in the round to reliefs.
  • Intended for palaces, these reliefs depict royal activities such as battles or hunting.
  • The Burney Relief is a Mesopotamian terra cotta plaque in high relief of the Old-Babylonian period, depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird's talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon supine lions.