Editing Sculpture (section)

=====Early Medieval and Byzantine=====
[[File:St Ninian's Isle TreasureDSCF6209det.jpg|thumb|Silver monster on a [[chape]], Scottish or Anglo-Saxon, [[St Ninian's Isle Treasure]], {{Circa|800}}]]
[[File:Gerokreuz full 20050903.jpg|thumb|The [[Gero Cross]], {{Circa|965–970}}, [[Cologne]], Germany, the first great example of the revival of large sculpture]]
The [[Early Christian]]s were opposed to monumental religious sculpture, though Roman traditions continued in portrait busts and [[sarcophagus]] reliefs, as well as smaller objects such as the consular diptych. Such objects, often in valuable materials, were also the main sculptural traditions (as far as is known) of the civilizations of the [[Migration period]], as seen in the objects found in the 6th-century burial treasure at [[Sutton Hoo]], and the jewellery of [[Scythian art]] and the hybrid Christian and [[animal style]] productions of [[Insular art]]. Following the continuing Byzantine tradition, [[Carolingian art]] revived ivory carving in the West, often in panels for the [[treasure binding]]s of grand [[illuminated manuscript]]s, as well as [[crozier]] heads and other small fittings.

[[Byzantine art]], though producing superb ivory reliefs and architectural decorative carving, never returned to monumental sculpture, or even much small sculpture in the round.<ref>Robinson, 12, 15.</ref>  However, in the West during the [[Carolingian]] and [[Ottonian]] periods there was the beginnings of a production of monumental statues, in courts and major churches. This gradually spread; by the late 10th and 11th century there are records of several apparently life-size sculptures in [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon]] churches, probably of precious metal around a wooden frame, like the [[Golden Madonna of Essen]]. No Anglo-Saxon example has survived,<ref>Dodwell, Chapter 2.</ref> and survivals of large non-architectural sculpture from before the year 1000 are exceptionally rare. Much the finest is the [[Gero Cross]], of 965–970, which is a [[crucifix]], which was evidently the commonest type of sculpture; [[Charlemagne]] had set one up in the [[Palatine Chapel in Aachen]] around 800. These continued to grow in popularity, especially in Germany and Italy. The [[runestone]]s of the [[Nordic countries|Nordic]] world, the [[Pictish stone]]s of Scotland and possibly the [[high cross]] reliefs of Christian Great Britain, were northern sculptural traditions that bridged the period of Christianization.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Byzantine ivory 801.jpg|''[[Archangel Ivory]]'', 525–550, [[Constantinople]]
File:Saint Remigius binding Medieval Picardie Museum.jpg|Late [[Carolingian art|Carolingian]] ivory panel, probably meant for a book-cover
File:Triptych Harbaville Louvre OA3247 recto.jpg|The [[Harbaville Triptych]], [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]] [[ivory]], mid-10th century
</gallery>