Editing Sculpture

{{short description|Artworks that are three-dimensional objects}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Sculpting|sculpting in computer graphics|Digital sculpting}}
{{redirect|Sculptor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
[[File:Dying gaul.jpg|thumb|''[[Dying Gaul]]'', or ''The Capitoline Gaul'',<ref>[http://en.museicapitolini.org/collezioni/percorsi_per_sale/palazzo_nuovo/sala_del_gladiatore/statua_del_galata_capitolino en.museicapitolini.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903030759/http://en.museicapitolini.org/collezioni/percorsi_per_sale/palazzo_nuovo/sala_del_gladiatore/statua_del_galata_capitolino |date=2017-09-03 }} (in Italian).</ref> a Roman marble copy of a [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] work of the late 3rd century BCE, [[Capitoline Museums]], Rome]]
[[File:Lammasu.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Assyrian sculpture|Assyrian]] ''[[lamassu]]'' gate guardian from [[Khorsabad]], {{Circa|800}}–721 BCE]]
[[File:Moses San Pietro in Vincoli.jpg|thumb|[[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'', ({{Circa|1513–1515}}), [[San Pietro in Vincoli]], [[Rome]], for the tomb of [[Pope Julius II]]]]
[[File:Miyasaka Hakuryu II - Tigress with Two Cubs - Walters 71909.jpg|thumb|[[Netsuke]] of tigress with two cubs, mid-19th-century Japan, ivory with shell inlay]]
[[File:Angel of the North 2016 006.jpg|thumb|''[[The Angel of the North]]'' by [[Antony Gormley]], 1998]]
'''Sculpture''' is the branch of the [[visual arts]] that operates in [[three dimensions]]. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the [[plastic arts]]. Durable sculptural processes originally used [[carving]] (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in [[stone]], [[metal]], [[ceramic art|ceramics]], [[wood]] and other materials but, since [[Modernism]], there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by [[welding]] or modelling, or [[Molding (process)|moulded]] or [[Casting|cast]].

Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents the majority of the surviving works (other than [[pottery]]) from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely. In addition, most ancient sculpture was painted, which has been lost.<ref name="artmuseums.harvard.edu">[http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/sackler/godsInColor.html "Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity" September 2007 to January 2008, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104060402/http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/sackler/godsInColor.html |date=January 4, 2009 }}</ref>

Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries, large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, [[India]] and China, as well as many in Central and South America and Africa.

The [[Western culture|Western]] tradition of sculpture began in [[ancient Greece]], and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the [[Classical Greece|classical]] period. During the [[Middle Ages]], [[Gothic sculpture]] represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith. The revival of classical models in the [[Renaissance]] produced famous sculptures such as [[Michelangelo]]'s [[statue]] of ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]''. Modernist sculpture moved away from traditional processes and the emphasis on the depiction of the human body, with the making of [[Assemblage (art)|constructed sculpture]], and the presentation of [[found object]]s as finished artworks.

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==Types==
[[File:龙门-Buddha.jpg|thumb|Open air Buddhist [[rock relief]]s at the [[Longmen Grottoes]], China]]
A distinction exists between sculpture "in the round", free-standing sculpture such as [[statue]]s, not attached except possibly at the base to any other surface, and the various types of [[relief]], which are at least partly attached to a background surface. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or [[bas-relief]], [[alto-relievo|high relief]], and sometimes an intermediate [[mid-relief]]. [[Sunk-relief]] is a technique restricted to [[ancient Egypt]]. Relief is the usual sculptural medium for large figure groups and narrative subjects, which are difficult to accomplish in the round, and is the typical technique used both for [[architectural sculpture]], which is attached to buildings, and for small-scale sculpture decorating other objects, as in much [[pottery]], metalwork and [[jewellery]]. Relief sculpture may also decorate [[stele]]s, upright slabs, usually of stone, often also containing inscriptions.

Another basic distinction is between subtractive carving techniques, which remove material from an existing block or lump, for example of stone or wood, and modelling techniques which shape or build up the work from the material. Techniques such as [[casting]], stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work; many of these allow the production of several copies.

The term "sculpture" is often used mainly to describe large works, which are sometimes called [[monumental sculpture]], meaning either or both of sculpture that is large, or that is attached to a building. But the term properly covers many types of small works in three dimensions using the same techniques, including coins and [[medal]]s, [[hardstone carving]]s, a term for small carvings in stone that can take detailed work.

The very large or "colossal" statue has had an enduring appeal since [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]]; the [[List of tallest statues|largest on record]] at {{convert|182|m|ft|abbr=on}} is the 2018 Indian [[Statue of Unity]]. Another grand form of portrait sculpture is the [[equestrian statue]] of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the "head", showing just that, or the [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]], a representation of a person from the chest up. Small forms of sculpture include the [[figurine]], normally a statue that is no more than {{convert|18|in|cm}} tall, and for reliefs the [[plaquette]], medal or coin.

Modern and contemporary art have added a number of non-traditional forms of sculpture, including [[sound sculpture]], [[light sculpture]], [[environmental art]], [[environmental sculpture]], [[Lock On (street art)|street art sculpture]], [[Kinetic art|kinetic sculpture]] (involving aspects of [[Motion (physics)|physical motion]]), [[land art]], and [[site-specific art]]. Sculpture is an important form of [[public art]]. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a [[sculpture garden]]. There is also a view that buildings are a type of sculpture, to quote Constantin Brâncuși "Architecture is inhabited sculpture."<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Dea |first=Rory |date=November 14, 2017 |title=Brancusi and the Story of Modernist Sculpture at the Guggenheim |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/articles/checklist/brancusi-and-the-story-of-modernist-sculpture-at-the-guggenheim |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130132758/https://www.guggenheim.org/articles/checklist/brancusi-and-the-story-of-modernist-sculpture-at-the-guggenheim |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |access-date=March 10, 2025 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Olmedo |first=Kiki |date=February 18, 2017 |title=7 Quotes by Constantin Brancusi on His 141st Birthday |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/7-quotes-by-constantin-brancusi-864005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241010064458/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/7-quotes-by-constantin-brancusi-864005 |archive-date=October 10, 2024 |access-date=March 10, 2025 |website=Artnet}}</ref>

==Purposes and subjects==
[[File:Moáis.jpg|thumb|''[[Moai]]'' from [[Easter Island]], where the concentration of resources on large sculpture may have had serious political effects]]
[[File:Pisanello, medaglia di giovanni paleologo, I esemplare del bargello.JPG|thumb|[[Medal of John VIII Palaeologus]], {{Circa|1435}}, by [[Pisanello]], the first portrait medal, a medium essentially made for collecting]]
One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in some form of association with religion. [[Cult image]]s are common in many cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized [[ancient Greek art]], like the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]]. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of [[Egyptian temple]]s, of which none have survived, were evidently rather small, even in the largest temples. The same is often true in [[Hinduism]], where the very simple and ancient form of the [[lingam]] is the most common. [[Buddhism]] brought the sculpture of religious figures to [[East Asia]], where there seems to have been no earlier equivalent tradition, though again simple shapes like the ''[[bi (jade)|bi]]'' and ''[[cong (jade)|cong]]'' probably had religious significance.

Small sculptures as personal possessions go back to the earliest prehistoric art, and the use of very large sculpture as [[public art]], especially to impress the viewer with the power of a ruler, goes back at least to the [[Great Sphinx]] of some 4,500 years ago. In [[archaeology]] and art history the appearance, and sometimes disappearance, of large or monumental sculpture in a culture is regarded as of great significance, though tracing the emergence is often complicated by the presumed existence of sculpture in wood and other perishable materials of which no record remains;<ref name="Google books">See for example Martin Robertson, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA9 A shorter history of Greek art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204112630/https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA9 |date=2022-12-04 }}'', p. 9, Cambridge University Press, 1981, {{ISBN|978-0-521-28084-6}}</ref>

The [[totem pole]] is an example of a tradition of monumental sculpture in wood that would leave no traces for archaeology. The ability to summon the resources to create monumental sculpture, by transporting usually very heavy materials and arranging for the payment of what are usually regarded as full-time sculptors, is considered a mark of a relatively advanced culture in terms of social organization. Recent unexpected discoveries of ancient Chinese [[Bronze Age]] figures at [[Sanxingdui]], some more than twice human size, have disturbed many ideas held about early Chinese civilization, since only much smaller bronzes were previously known.<ref>[http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_san.shtm NGA, Washington] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215195511/http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_san.shtm |date=2013-02-15 }} feature on exhibition.</ref>

Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the [[Indus Valley civilization]], appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines and seals. The [[Mississippian culture]] seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the [[History of Easter Island|Easter Island culture]], seem to have devoted enormous resources to very large-scale monumental sculpture from a very early stage.

The collecting of sculpture, including that of earlier periods, goes back some 2,000 years in Greece, China and Mesoamerica, and many collections were available on semi-public display long before the modern [[museum]] was invented. From the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, and the ability to transport and store the increasingly large works is a factor in their construction.

Small decorative [[figurine]]s, most often in ceramics, are as popular today (though strangely neglected by [[Modern art|modern]] and [[Contemporary art]]) as they were in the [[Rococo]], or in ancient Greece when [[Tanagra figurines]] were a major industry, or in East Asian and [[Pre-Columbian art]]. Small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the [[Nimrud ivories]], [[Begram ivories]] and finds from the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]].

Portrait sculpture began in [[Egypt]], where the [[Narmer Palette]] shows a ruler of the 32nd century BCE, and [[Mesopotamia]], where we have 27 surviving [[statues of Gudea]], who ruled [[Lagash]] c. 2144–2124 BCE. In ancient Greece and Rome, the erection of a portrait statue in a public place was almost the highest mark of honour, and the ambition of the elite, who might also be depicted on a coin.<ref>The [[Ptolemies]] began the Hellenistic tradition of ruler-portraits on coins, and the Romans began to show dead politicians in the 1st century BCE, with [[Julius Caesar]] the first living figure to be portrayed; under the emperors portraits of the Imperial family became standard. See Burnett, 34–35; Howgego, 63–70.</ref>

In other cultures such as Egypt and the Near East public statues were almost exclusively the preserve of the ruler, with other wealthy people only being portrayed in their tombs. Rulers are typically the only people given portraits in Pre-Columbian cultures, beginning with the [[Olmec colossal heads]] of about 3,000 years ago. East Asian portrait sculpture was entirely religious, with leading clergy being commemorated with statues, especially the founders of monasteries, but not rulers, or ancestors. The Mediterranean tradition revived, initially only for tomb effigies and coins, in the Middle Ages, but expanded greatly in the Renaissance, which invented new forms such as the personal portrait [[medal]].

Animals are, with the human figure, the earliest subject for sculpture, and have always been popular, sometimes realistic, but often imaginary monsters; in China animals and monsters are almost the only traditional subjects for stone sculpture outside tombs and temples. The kingdom of plants is important only in jewellery and decorative reliefs, but these form almost all the large sculpture of [[Byzantine art]] and [[Islamic art]], and are very important in most Eurasian traditions, where motifs such as the [[palmette]] and vine scroll have passed east and west for over two millennia.

One form of sculpture found in many prehistoric cultures around the world is specially enlarged versions of ordinary tools, weapons or vessels created in impractical precious materials, for either some form of ceremonial use or display or as offerings. [[Jade]] or other types of [[greenstone (archaeology)|greenstone]] were used in China, [[Olmec]] Mexico, and [[Neolithic Europe]], and in early Mesopotamia large pottery shapes were produced in stone. Bronze was used in Europe and China for large axes and blades, like the [[Oxborough Dirk]].

==Materials and techniques==
[[File:Mesopotamia male worshiper 2750-2600 B.C.jpg|thumb|[[Sumer]]ian male worshipper, alabaster with shell eyes, 2750–2600 BCE]]
The materials used in sculpture are diverse, changing throughout history. The classic materials, with outstanding durability, are metal, especially [[bronze]], stone and pottery, with wood, bone and [[antler]] as less durable but cheaper options. Precious materials such as [[gold]], [[silver]], [[jade]], and [[ivory]] are often used for small luxury works, and sometimes in larger ones, as in [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine]] statues. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including [[hardwood]]s (such as [[oak]], [[Buxus|box/boxwood]], and [[Tilia|lime/linden]]); [[terracotta]] and other [[ceramic]]s, wax (a very common material for models for casting, and receiving the impressions of [[cylinder seal]]s and engraved gems), and cast metals such as [[pewter]] and [[zinc]] (spelter). But a vast number of other materials have been used as part of sculptures, in ethnographic and ancient works as much as modern ones.

Sculptures are often [[paint]]ed, but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting techniques have been used in making sculpture, including [[tempera]], [[oil painting]], [[gilding]], house paint, aerosol, enamel and sandblasting.<ref name="artmuseums.harvard.edu"/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.flashpointmag.com/sculptur.htm| title = Article by Morris Cox.| access-date = October 30, 2008| archive-date = August 28, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080828020704/http://www.flashpointmag.com/sculptur.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. One of [[Pablo Picasso]]'s most famous sculptures included [[bicycle]] parts. [[Alexander Calder]] and other modernists made spectacular use of painted [[steel]]. Since the 1960s, [[acrylyl group|acrylics]] and other plastics have been used as well. [[Andy Goldsworthy]] makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as [[ice sculpture]], [[sand sculpture]], and [[gas sculpture]], is deliberately short-lived. Recent sculptors have used [[stained glass]], tools, machine parts, hardware and consumer packaging to fashion their works. Sculptors sometimes use [[found objects]], and [[Chinese scholar's rocks]] have been appreciated for many centuries.

===Stone===
[[File:Istanbul - Museo archeologico - Mostra sul colore nell'antichità 08 - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Modern plaster recreation of the original painted appearance of a Late Archaic Greek marble figure from the [[Temple of Aphaea]], based on analysis of pigment traces,<ref>Part of the [[Gods in Color]] exhibition. [http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/past/gods-color-painted-sculpture-classical-antiquity Harvard exhibition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006044401/http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/past/gods-color-painted-sculpture-classical-antiquity |date=2014-10-06 }}</ref> {{Circa|500 BCE}}]]
[[Stone sculpture]] is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural [[Rock (geology)|stone]] are shaped by the [[Stone carving|controlled removal of stone]]. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work, though not all areas of the world have such abundance of good stone for carving as Egypt, Greece, India and most of Europe. [[Petroglyph]]s (also called rock engravings) are perhaps the earliest form: images created by removing part of a rock surface which remains ''in situ'', by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. [[Monumental sculpture]] covers large works, and [[architectural sculpture]], which is attached to buildings. [[Hardstone carving]] is the carving for artistic purposes of [[semi-precious]] stones such as [[jade]], [[agate]], [[onyx]], [[rock crystal]], [[sard]] or [[carnelian]], and a general term for an object made in this way. [[Alabaster]] or mineral [[gypsum]] is a soft mineral that is easy to carve for smaller works and still relatively durable. [[Engraved gems]] are small carved gems, including [[cameo (carving)|cameos]], originally used as [[seal ring]]s.

The copying of an original statue in stone, which was very important for ancient Greek statues, which are nearly all known from copies, was traditionally achieved by "[[Pointing machine|pointing]]", along with more freehand methods. Pointing involved setting up a grid of string squares on a wooden frame surrounding the original, and then measuring the position on the grid and the distance between grid and statue of a series of individual points, and then using this information to carve into the block from which the copy is made.<ref>Cook, 147; he notes that ancient Greek copyists seem to have used many fewer points than some later ones, and copies often vary considerably in the composition as well as the finish.</ref>

===Metal===
[[File:Refugees medal DSCF9937.JPG|thumb|[[Ludwig Gies]], cast iron [[plaquette]], 8 x 9.8 cm, ''Refugees'', 1915]]
[[Bronze]] and related [[copper alloy]]s are the oldest and still the most popular metals for [[Casting|cast]] metal sculptures; a cast [[bronze sculpture]] is often called simply a "bronze". Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mould. Their strength and lack of brittleness (ductility) is an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various [[ceramic]] or stone materials (see [[marble sculpture]] for several examples). [[Gold]] is the softest and most precious metal, and very important in [[jewellery]]; with [[silver]] it is soft enough to be worked with hammers and other tools as well as cast; [[repoussé and chasing]] are among the techniques used in gold and [[silversmithing]].

[[Casting]] is a group of manufacturing processes by which a liquid material (bronze, copper, glass, aluminum, iron) is (usually) poured into a mould, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid casting is then ejected or broken out to complete the process,<ref name="jepsculpture">{{cite web | title = Flash animation of the lost-wax casting process | publisher = James Peniston Sculpture | url = http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | access-date = November 30, 2008 | archive-date = September 14, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100914211709/http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref> although a final stage of "cold work" may follow on the finished cast. Casting may be used to form hot liquid metals or various materials that ''cold set'' after mixing of components (such as [[epoxy|epoxies]], [[concrete]], [[plaster]] and [[clay]]). Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. The oldest surviving casting is a copper Mesopotamian frog from 3200 BCE.<ref name=mco>{{Cite web| last = Ravi| first = B.| title = Metal Casting – Overview| publisher = Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India| year = 2004| url = http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| access-date = July 3, 2011| archive-date = February 7, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160207225247/http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Specific techniques include [[lost-wax casting]], plaster mould casting, and [[sand casting]].

[[Welding]] is a process where different pieces of metal are fused together to create different shapes and designs. There are many different forms of welding, such as [[Oxy-fuel welding]], [[Stick welding]], [[MIG welding]], and [[TIG welding]]. Oxy-fuel is probably the most common method of welding when it comes to creating steel sculptures because it is the easiest to use for shaping the steel as well as making clean and less noticeable joins of the steel. The key to Oxy-fuel welding is heating each piece of metal to be joined evenly until all are red and have a shine to them. Once that shine is on each piece, that shine will soon become a 'pool' where the metal is liquified and the welder must get the pools to join, fusing the metal. Once cooled off, the location where the pools joined are now one continuous piece of metal. Also used heavily in Oxy-fuel sculpture creation is forging. [[Forging]] is the process of heating metal to a certain point to soften it enough to be shaped into different forms. One very common example is heating the end of a steel rod and hitting the red heated tip with a hammer while on an anvil to form a point. In between hammer swings, the forger rotates the rod and gradually forms a sharpened point from the blunt end of a steel rod.

===Glass===
[[File:Chihuly at Kew Gardens 031.jpg|thumb|[[Dale Chihuly]], 2006, ([[Blown glass]])]]
[[File:Wood Bodhisattva.jpg|thumb|A carved wooden [[Bodhisattva]] from China's [[Song dynasty]] 960–1279, [[Shanghai Museum]]]]
[[Glass]] may be used for sculpture through a wide range of working techniques, though the use of it for large works is a recent development. It can be carved, though with considerable difficulty; the Roman [[Lycurgus Cup]] is all but unique.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lycurgus_cup.aspx| title = British Museum – The Lycurgus Cup.| access-date = June 15, 2017| archive-date = November 4, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151104233439/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lycurgus_cup.aspx| url-status = live}}</ref>  There are various ways of [[Early American molded glass|moulding glass]]: hot casting can be done by ladling molten glass into moulds that have been created by pressing shapes into sand, carved graphite or detailed plaster/silica moulds. Kiln casting glass involves heating chunks of glass in a kiln until they are liquid and flow into a waiting mould below it in the kiln.  Hot glass can also [[glassblowing|be blown]] and/or hot sculpted with hand tools either as a solid mass or as part of a blown object. More recent techniques involve chiseling and bonding plate glass with polymer silicates and UV light.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Arthur|title=The Sculpture Reference Illustrated|date=2005|location=Gulfport, MS|isbn=978-0-9755383-0-2|page=179}}</ref>

===Pottery===
{{further|Pottery#Shaping methods}}
Pottery is one of the oldest materials for sculpture, as well as clay being the medium in which many sculptures cast in metal are originally modelled for casting. Sculptors often build small preliminary works called [[maquette]]s of ephemeral materials such as [[plaster|plaster of Paris]], wax, unfired clay, or [[plasticine]].<ref>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/clay-into-terracotta/ V&A Museum, Sculpture techniques: modelling in clay] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802094251/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/clay-into-terracotta/ |date=August 2, 2012 }}, accessed August 31, 2012.</ref>  Many cultures have produced pottery which combines a function as a vessel with a sculptural form, and small [[figurine]]s have often been as popular as they are in modern Western culture. Stamps and moulds were used by most ancient civilizations, from [[Ancient Roman pottery|ancient Rome]] and Mesopotamia to China.<ref>Rawson, 140–44; Frankfort 112–13; Henig, 179–80.</ref>

===Wood carving===
[[File:Detalle crucificado Luján Pérez, 1793.jpg|thumb|Detail of Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Spanish, wood and polychrome, 1793]]
[[Wood carving]] has been extremely widely practiced, but survives much less well than the other main materials, being vulnerable to decay, insect damage, and fire. It therefore forms an important hidden element in the art history of many cultures.<ref name="Google books"/>  Outdoor wood sculpture does not last long in most parts of the world, so that we have little idea how the [[totem pole]] tradition developed. Many of the most important sculptures of China and Japan in particular are in wood, and the great majority of [[African sculpture]] and that of [[Oceania]] and other regions.

Wood is light, so suitable for masks and other sculpture intended to be carried, and can take very fine detail. It is also much easier to work than stone.  It has been very often painted after carving, but the paint wears less well than the wood, and is often missing in surviving pieces.  Painted wood is often technically described as "wood and [[polychrome]]".  Typically a layer of [[gesso]] or plaster is applied to the wood, and then the paint is applied to that.

=== Soft materials ===
Three dimensional work incorporating unconventional materials such as cloth, fur, plastics, rubber and nylon, that can thus be stuffed, sewn, hung, draped or woven, are known as [[soft sculpture]]s. Well known creators of soft sculptures include [[Claes Oldenburg]], [[Yayoi Kusama]], [[Eva Hesse]], [[Sarah Lucas]] and [[Magdalena Abakanowicz]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gipson |first=Ferren |title=Women's work: from feminine arts to feminist art |date=2022 |publisher=Frances Lincoln |isbn=978-0-7112-6465-6 |location=London}}</ref> Soft sculptures challenge the traditional rigidity of sculpture by introducing pliable, often ephemeral materials that create a sense of fluidity and movement. These works can evoke a wide range of emotions, from playfulness to vulnerability, depending on the materials and forms used. By utilizing fabric, foam, and other soft elements, artists can manipulate scale and texture in ways that traditional materials like stone or metal do not allow. Additionally, soft sculptures often blur the boundaries between fine art, craft, and design, engaging with themes of the body, domesticity, and consumer culture. This versatility has made soft sculpture a significant medium for contemporary artists exploring new dimensions of materiality and meaning in three-dimensional art.

==Social status of sculptors==
[[File:Adam Kraft.jpg|thumb|[[Nuremberg]] sculptor [[Adam Kraft]], self-portrait from ''St Lorenz Church'', 1490s]]
Worldwide, sculptors have usually been tradespeople whose work is unsigned; in some traditions, for example China, where sculpture did not share the prestige of [[literati painting]], this has affected the status of sculpture itself.<ref>Rawson, 134–35.</ref> Even in [[ancient Greece]], where sculptors such as [[Phidias]] became famous, they appear to have retained much the same social status as other artisans, and perhaps not much greater financial rewards, although some signed their works.<ref>Burford, Alison, "Greece, ancient, §IV, 1: Monumental sculpture: Overview, 5 c)" in [[Oxford Art Online]], accessed August 24, 2012.</ref>  In the [[Middle Ages]] artists such as the 12th-century [[Gislebertus]] sometimes signed their work, and were sought after by different cities, especially from the [[Trecento]] onwards in Italy, with figures such as [[Arnolfo di Cambio]], and [[Nicola Pisano]] and his son [[Giovanni Pisano|Giovanni]]. Goldsmiths and jewellers, dealing with precious materials and often doubling as bankers, belonged to powerful [[guild]]s and had considerable status, often holding civic office. Many sculptors also practised in other arts; [[Andrea del Verrocchio]] also painted, and [[Giovanni Pisano]], Michelangelo, and [[Jacopo Sansovino]] were [[Architecture|architects]]. Some sculptors maintained large workshops. Even in the Renaissance the physical nature of the work was perceived by Leonardo da Vinci and others as pulling down the status of sculpture in the arts, though the reputation of Michelangelo perhaps put this long-held idea to rest.

From the [[High Renaissance]] artists such as Michelangelo, [[Leone Leoni]] and [[Giambologna]] could become wealthy, and ennobled, and enter the circle of princes, after a period of sharp argument over the relative status of sculpture and painting.<ref>Olsen, 150–51; Blunt.</ref>  Much decorative sculpture on buildings remained a trade, but sculptors producing individual pieces were recognised on a level with painters. From the 18th century or earlier sculpture also attracted middle-class students, although it was slower to do so than painting. Women sculptors took longer to appear than women painters, and were less prominent until the 20th century.

==Anti-sculpture movements==
[[Aniconism]] originated with [[Judaism]], which did not accept figurative sculpture until the 19th century,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0018_0_17899.html| title = Jewish virtual library, History of Jewish sculpture.| access-date = August 20, 2014| archive-date = August 5, 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140805044926/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0018_0_17899.html| url-status = live}}</ref> before expanding to [[History of Christianity|Christianity]], which initially accepted large sculptures. In Christianity and Buddhism, sculpture became very significant. Christian [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] has never accepted monumental sculpture, and [[Islam]] has consistently rejected nearly all figurative sculpture, except for very small figures in reliefs and some animal figures that fulfill a useful function, like the famous lions supporting a fountain in the [[Alhambra]]. Many forms of [[Protestantism]] also do not approve of religious sculpture. There has been much [[iconoclasm]] of sculpture for religious motives, from the Early Christians and the [[Beeldenstorm]] of the [[Protestant Reformation]] to the 2001 destruction of the [[Buddhas of Bamyan]] by the [[Taliban]].

==History{{anchor|History_of_sculpture}}==
[[File:Venus von Willendorf 01.jpg|thumb|[[Venus of Willendorf]], c.{{nbsp}}24,000–26,000{{nbsp}}BP]]

=== Prehistoric periods ===
====Europe====
The earliest undisputed examples of sculpture belong to the [[Aurignacian culture]], which was located in Europe and southwest Asia and active at the beginning of the [[Upper Paleolithic]]. As well as producing some of the earliest known [[cave art]], the people of this culture developed finely-crafted stone tools, manufacturing pendants, bracelets, ivory beads, and bone-flutes, as well as three-dimensional figurines.<ref>P. Mellars, Archeology and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in Europe: Deconstructing the Aurignacian, ''Evolutionary Anthropology'', vol. 15 (2006), pp. 167–82.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e75T03MIp3sC&pg=PA211|page=211|title=History of Humanity: Prehistory and the beginnings of civilization|year=1994|author=de Laet, Sigfried J.|publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102810-6}}</ref>

The 30&nbsp;cm tall [[Löwenmensch figurine|Löwenmensch]] found in the Hohlenstein Stadel area of Germany is an [[anthropomorphic]] lion-human figure carved from [[woolly mammoth]] ivory. It has been dated to about 35–40,000{{nbsp}}BP, making it, along with the [[Venus of Hohle Fels]], the oldest known uncontested examples of sculpture.<ref>Cook, J. (2013) ''Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind'', The British Museum, {{ISBN|978-0-7141-2333-2}}.</ref>

Much surviving [[prehistoric art]] is small portable sculptures, with a small group of female [[Venus figurines]] such as the [[Venus of Willendorf]] (24–26,000{{nbsp}}BP) found across central Europe.<ref>Sandars, 8–16, 29–31.</ref>  The [[Swimming Reindeer]] of about 13,000 years ago is one of the finest of a number of [[Magdalenian]] carvings in bone or antler of animals in the [[art of the Upper Paleolithic]], although they are outnumbered by engraved pieces, which are sometimes classified as sculpture.<ref>Hahn, Joachim, "Prehistoric Europe, §II: Palaeolithic 3. Portable art" in [[Oxford Art Online]], accessed August 24, 2012; Sandars, 37–40.</ref> Two of the largest prehistoric sculptures can be found at the [[Trois Frères|Tuc d'Audobert caves]] in France, where around 12–17,000 years ago a masterful sculptor used a spatula-like stone tool and fingers to model a pair of large bison in clay against a limestone rock.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBrvazPDFoYC&pg=PT36|title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 1|page=36|author=Kleiner, Fred|year=2009 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-495-57360-9}}</ref>

With the beginning of the [[Mesolithic]] in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced,<ref>Sandars, 75–80.</ref> and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the [[Gundestrup cauldron]] from the [[European Iron Age]] and the Bronze Age [[Trundholm sun chariot]].<ref>Sandars, 253−57, 183–85.</ref>

====Ancient Near East====
From the [[ancient Near East]], the over-life sized stone [[Urfa Man]] from modern [[Turkey]] comes from about 9,000 BCE, and the [['Ain Ghazal Statues]] from around 7200 and 6500 BCE.  These are from modern [[Jordan]], made of lime plaster and reeds, and about half life-size; there are 15 statues, some with two heads side by side, and 15 busts.  Small clay figures of people and animals are found at many sites across the Near East from the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]], and represent the start of a more-or-less continuous tradition in the region.

<gallery>
File:Loewenmensch2.jpg|[[Löwenmensch figurine|Löwenmensch]], from [[Hohlenstein-Stadel]], now in Ulmer Museum, [[Ulm]], [[Germany]], the oldest known [[anthropomorphic]] animal-human statuette, [[Aurignacian]] era, c.{{nbsp}}35–40,000{{nbsp}}BP
File:Adorant Geissenkloesterle Blaubeuren.jpg|[[Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave]], [[Germany]], c.{{nbsp}}35–40,000{{nbsp}}BP
File:MUT-9846.jpg|[[Wild horse]] from the Vogelherd cave, [[Germany]], c.{{nbsp}}33–35,000{{nbsp}}BP
File:Venus-de-Laussel-vue-generale-noir.jpg|[[Venus of Laussel]] c.{{nbsp}}27,000{{nbsp}}BP, an Upper Palaeolithic carving, Bordeaux museum, France
File:Speerschleuder LaMadeleine.jpg|''Creeping Hyena,'' c.{{nbsp}}12–17,000{{nbsp}}BP, [[Elephant and mammoth ivory|mammoth ivory]], found in [[Abri de la Madeleine|La Madeleine]], France
File:GLAM Ice Age 238.jpg|''[[Swimming Reindeer]]'' c.{{nbsp}}13,000 BP, female and male swimming reindeer – late [[Magdalenian]] period, found at Montastruc, Tarn et Garonne, France
File:Urfa man.jpg|[[Urfa Man]], in the [[Şanlıurfa Museum]]; sandstone, 1.80 meters, {{Circa|9,000 BCE}}
File:Stone statue, late Jomon period.JPG|A [[Jōmon]] [[dogū]] figure, 1st millennium BCE, Japan
File:Solvognen-00100.jpg|The [[Trundholm sun chariot]], perhaps 1800–1500 BCE; this side is [[gilding|gilded]], the other is "dark".
</gallery>

=== Ancient Near East ===
{{main|Art of Mesopotamia|Assyrian sculpture|Persian art}}
[[File:Cylinder seal lions Louvre MNB1167.jpg|thumb|[[Cylinder seal]] with its impression on clay; [[serpopard]]s and eagles, Uruk Period, 4100–3000 BCE]]
The [[Protoliterate period]] in [[Mesopotamia]], dominated by [[Uruk]], saw the production of sophisticated works like the [[Warka Vase]] and [[cylinder seal]]s. The [[Guennol Lioness]] is an outstanding small [[limestone]] figure from [[Elam]] of about 3000–2800 BCE, part human and part lioness.<ref>Frankfort, 24–37.</ref> A little later there are a number of figures of large-eyed priests and worshippers, mostly in alabaster and up to a foot high, who attended temple [[cult image]]s of the deity, but very few of these have survived.<ref>Frankfort, 45–59.</ref>  Sculptures from the [[Sumer]]ian and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] period generally had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal Cemetery at [[Ur]] (c. 2650 BCE), including the two figures of a ''[[Ram in a Thicket]]'', the ''[[Copper Bull]]'' and a bull's head on one of the [[Lyres of Ur]].<ref>Frankfort, 61–66.</ref>

From the many subsequent periods before the ascendency of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in the 10th century BCE, Mesopotamian art survives in a number of forms: [[cylinder seal]]s, relatively small figures in the round, and reliefs of various sizes, including cheap plaques of moulded pottery for the home, some religious and some apparently not.<ref>Frankfort, Chapters 2–5.</ref> The [[Burney Relief]] is an unusually elaborate and relatively large (20 x 15&nbsp;inches, 50 x 37&nbsp;cm) [[terracotta]] plaque of a naked winged goddess with the feet of a bird of prey, and attendant owls and lions. It comes from the 18th or 19th century BCE, and may also be moulded.<ref>Frankfort, 110–12.</ref> Stone [[stela]]e, [[votive offering]]s, or ones probably commemorating victories and showing feasts, are also found from temples, which unlike more official ones lack inscriptions that would explain them;<ref>Frankfort, 66–74.</ref> the fragmentary [[Stele of the Vultures]] is an early example of the inscribed type,<ref>Frankfort, 71–73.</ref> and the Assyrian [[Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III]] a large and solid late one.<ref>Frankfort, 66–74, 167.</ref>

The conquest of the whole of Mesopotamia and much surrounding territory by the Assyrians created a larger and wealthier state than the region had known before, and very grandiose art in palaces and public places, no doubt partly intended to match the splendour of the art of the neighbouring Egyptian empire. Unlike earlier states, the Assyrians could use easily carved stone from northern Iraq, and did so in great quantity.  The Assyrians developed a style of extremely [[Assyrian sculpture#Palace reliefs|large schemes of very finely detailed narrative low reliefs]] in stone for palaces, with scenes of war or hunting; the [[British Museum]] has an outstanding collection, including the ''[[Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal]]'' and the [[Lachish relief]]s showing a campaign. They produced very little sculpture in the round, except for colossal guardian figures of the human-headed [[lamassu]], which are sculpted in high relief on two sides of a rectangular block, with the heads effectively in the round (and also five legs, so that both views seem complete). Even before dominating the region they had continued the cylinder seal tradition with designs which are often exceptionally energetic and refined.<ref>Frankfort, 141–93.</ref>

<gallery>
File:Guennol Lioness.jpg|The [[Guennol Lioness]], 3rd millennium BCE, {{convert|3.25|in|cm}} high
File:Statue Gudea Met 59.2.jpg|One of 18 [[Statues of Gudea]], a ruler around 2090 BCE
File:Lilith Periodo de Isin Larsa y Babilonia.JPG|The [[Burney Relief]], [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian]], around 1800 BCE
File:Sculpted reliefs depicting Ashurbanipal, the last great Assyrian king, hunting lions, gypsum hall relief from the North Palace of Nineveh (Irak), c. 645-635 BC, British Museum (16722368932).jpg|Part of the ''[[Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal]]'', c. 640 BCE, [[Nineveh]]
</gallery>

===Ancient Egypt===
[[File:Nofretete Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|[[Thutmose (sculptor)|Thutmose]], ''[[Bust of Nefertiti]]'', 1345 BCE, [[Egyptian Museum of Berlin]]]]
{{see also|Art of ancient Egypt|Amarna art}}
The [[monumental sculpture]] of ancient Egypt is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. 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.<ref>Smith, 33.</ref> This appears as early as the [[Narmer Palette]] from Dynasty I. However, there as elsewhere the convention is not used for minor figures shown engaged in some activity, such as the captives and corpses.<ref>Smith, 12–13 and note 17.</ref>  Other conventions make statues of males darker than females ones. Very conventionalized portrait statues appear from as early as Dynasty II, before 2,780 BCE,<ref>Smith, 21–24.</ref> and with the exception of the [[Amarna art|art of the Amarna period]] of [[Ahkenaten]],<ref>Smith, 170–78, 192–94.</ref> and some other periods such as Dynasty XII, the idealized features of rulers, like other Egyptian artistic conventions, changed little until after the Greek conquest.<ref>Smith, 102–03, 133–34.</ref>

Egyptian [[pharaoh]]s were always regarded as deities, but other deities are much less common in large statues, except when they represent the pharaoh ''as'' another deity; however the other deities are frequently shown in paintings and reliefs. The famous row of four colossal statues outside the [[Abu Simbel temples|main temple at Abu Simbel]] each show [[Rameses II]], a typical scheme, though here exceptionally large.<ref>Smith, 4–5, 208–09.</ref>  Small figures of deities, or their animal personifications, are very common, and found in popular materials such as pottery. Most larger sculpture survives from [[Egyptian temple]]s or tombs; by Dynasty IV (2680–2565 BCE) at the latest the idea of the [[Ka statue]] was firmly established. These were put in tombs as a resting place for the [[Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul|''ka'' portion of the soul]], and so we have a good number of less conventionalized statues of well-off administrators and their wives, many in wood as Egypt is one of the few places in the world where the climate allows wood to survive over millennia. The so-called [[reserve head]]s, plain hairless heads, are especially naturalistic. Early tombs also contained small models of the slaves, animals, buildings and objects such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterworld, and later ''[[Ushabti]]'' figures.<ref>Smith, 89–90.</ref>

<gallery>
File:Narmer Palette, Egypt, c. 3100 BC - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC09726.JPG|[[Facsimile]] of the [[Narmer Palette]], c. 3100 BCE, which already shows the canonical Egyptian profile view and proportions of the figure
File:King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and queen.jpg|[[Menkaura]] (Mycerinus) and queen, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, 2490–2472 BCE. The formality of the pose is reduced by the queen's arm round her husband
File:GD-EG-Caire-Musée120.JPG|Wooden tomb models, Dynasty XI; a high administrator counts his cattle
File:Tuthankhamun Egyptian Museum.jpg|[[Tutankhamun's mask]], c. 1323 BCE, [[Egyptian Museum]]
File:BM, AES Egyptian Sulpture ~ Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the 'Younger Memnon' (1250 BC) (Room 4).jpg|''The [[Younger Memnon]]'' {{circa|1250 BCE}}, [[British Museum]]
File:Egypte louvre 066.jpg|[[Osiris]] on a [[lapis lazuli]] pillar in the middle, flanked by [[Horus]] on the left, and [[Isis]] on the right, between 874 and 850 BCE, [[Louvre]]
File:Ka Statue of horawibra.jpg|The [[ka statue]] provided a physical place for the ka to manifest. [[Egyptian Museum, Cairo]]
File:Block statue Pa-Akh-Ra CdM.jpg|[[Block statue]] of Pa-Ankh-Ra, ship master, bearing a statue of [[Ptah]]. [[Late Period of Ancient Egypt|Late Period]], c. 650–633 BCE, Cabinet des Médailles
</gallery>

===Europe===

====Ancient Greece====
{{main|Ancient Greek sculpture}}
[[File:Vognstyreren-fra Delfi2.jpg|thumb|[[Charioteer of Delphi]], [[Art in ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[bronze sculpture]], 5th century BCE, close up head detail]]
The first distinctive style of [[ancient Greek sculpture]] developed in the Early Bronze Age [[Cycladic]] period (3rd millennium BCE), where marble figures, usually female and small, are represented in an elegantly simplified geometrical style. Most typical is a standing pose with arms crossed in front, but other figures are shown in different poses, including a complicated figure of a harpist seated on a chair.<ref>[[commons:Category:Getty Villa - Harp player - inv. 85.AA.103|images of Getty Villa 85.AA.103]]</ref>

The subsequent [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] and [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] cultures developed sculpture further, under influence from Syria and elsewhere, but it is in the later [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] from around 650 BCE that the [[kouros]] developed. These are large standing statues of naked youths, found in temples and tombs, with the [[Kore (sculpture)|kore]] as the clothed female equivalent, with elaborately dressed hair; both have the "[[archaic smile]]". They seem to have served a number of functions, perhaps sometimes representing deities and sometimes the person buried in a grave, as with the [[Kroisos Kouros]]. They are clearly influenced by Egyptian and Syrian styles, but the Greek artists were much more ready to experiment within the style.

During the 6th century Greek sculpture developed rapidly, becoming more naturalistic, and with much more active and varied figure poses in narrative scenes, though still within idealized conventions. Sculptured [[pediment]]s were added to [[Greek temple|temples]], including the [[Parthenon]] in Athens, where the remains of the pediment of around 520 using figures in the round were fortunately used as infill for new buildings after the Persian sack in 480 BCE, and recovered from the 1880s on in fresh unweathered condition. Other significant remains of architectural sculpture come from [[Paestum]] in Italy, [[Corfu]], [[Delphi]] and the [[Temple of Aphaea]] in [[Aegina]] (much now in [[Munich]]).<ref>Cook, 72, 85–109; Boardman, 47–59</ref>  Most Greek sculpture originally included at least some colour; the [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek|Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum]] in Copenhagen, Denmark, has done extensive research and recreation of the original colours.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.glyptoteket.com/about-the-museum/research/|title=Research|work=Glyptoteket|access-date=September 23, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924044927/http://www.glyptoteket.com/about-the-museum/research/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trackingcolour.com/|title=Tracking Colour|website=www.trackingcolour.com|access-date=September 23, 2017|archive-date=December 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209145611/http://www.trackingcolour.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Head figurine Spedos Louvre Ma2709.jpg|Cycladic statue 2700–2300 BCE. Head from the figure of a woman, H. {{convert|27|cm|in}}
File:Goulandris Master - Cycladic Female Figurine - Walters 23253.jpg|Cycladic Female Figurine, {{Circa|2500–2400 BCE}}, {{convert|41.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} high
File:Athens Bull Rhyton 020911.jpg|Mycenae, 1600−1500 BCE. Silver rhyton with gold horns and rosette on the forehead
File:Marble statue of a kouros (youth) MET DT263.jpg|Lifesize [[New York Kouros]], {{Circa|590}}–580 BCE, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:028MAD Sphinx.jpg|The "[[Naxos|Naxian]] [[Sphinx]]" from [[Delphi]], 570–560 BCE, the figure {{convert|222|cm|in|abbr=on}} high
File:ACMA 679 Kore 1.JPG|''[[Peplos Kore]]'', c. 530 BCE, [[Athens]], [[Acropolis Museum]]
</gallery>
<gallery>
File:Aphaia pediment Laomedon E-XI Glyptothek Munich 85.jpg|Late Archaic warrior from the east pediment of the [[Temple of Aphaea]], {{Circa|500}}
File:Limestone sarcophagus- the Amathus sarcophagus MET DT257.jpg|The [[Amathus sarcophagus]], from [[Amathus]], [[Cyprus]], 2nd quarter of the 5th century BCE [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]], [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
</gallery>

=====Classical=====
[[File:South metope 27 Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|High Classical high relief from the [[Elgin Marbles]], which originally decorated the [[Parthenon]], c. 447–433 BCE]]
There are fewer original remains from the first phase of the Classical period, often called the [[Severe style]]; free-standing statues were now mostly made in bronze, which always had value as scrap. The Severe style lasted from around 500 in reliefs, and soon after 480 in statues, to about 450. The relatively rigid poses of figures relaxed, and asymmetrical turning positions and oblique views became common, and deliberately sought. This was combined with a better understanding of anatomy and the harmonious structure of sculpted figures, and the pursuit of naturalistic representation as an aim, which had not been present before. Excavations at the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia]] since 1829 have revealed the largest group of remains, from about 460, of which many are in the [[Louvre]].<ref>Cook, 109–19; Boardman, 87–95.</ref>

The "High Classical" period lasted only a few decades from about 450 to 400, but has had a momentous influence on art, and retains a special prestige, despite a very restricted number of original survivals. The best known works are the [[Parthenon Marbles]], traditionally (since [[Plutarch]]) executed by a team led by the most famous ancient Greek sculptor [[Phidias]], active from about 465–425, who was in his own day more famous for his colossal [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine]] [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]] (c. 432), one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], his ''[[Athena Parthenos]]'' (438), the cult image of the [[Parthenon]], and ''[[Athena Promachos]]'', a colossal bronze figure that stood next to the Parthenon; all of these are lost but are known from many representations. He is also credited as the creator of some life-size bronze statues known only from later copies whose identification is controversial, including the ''[[Hermes Ludovisi|Ludovisi Hermes]]''.<ref>Lapatin, Kenneth D.S., ''Phidias'', [[Oxford Art Online]], accessed August 24, 2012.</ref>

The High Classical style continued to develop realism and sophistication in the human figure, and improved the depiction of drapery (clothes), using it to add to the impact of active poses. Facial expressions were usually very restrained, even in combat scenes. The composition of groups of figures in reliefs and on pediments combined complexity and harmony in a way that had a permanent influence on Western art. Relief could be very high indeed, as in the Parthenon illustration below, where most of the leg of the warrior is completely detached from the background, as were the missing parts; relief this high made sculptures more subject to damage.<ref>Cook, 119–31.</ref> The Late Classical style developed the free-standing female nude statue, supposedly an innovation of [[Praxiteles]], and developed increasingly complex and subtle poses that were interesting when viewed from a number of angles, as well as more expressive faces; both trends were to be taken much further in the Hellenistic period.<ref>Cook, 131–41.</ref>

=====Hellenistic=====
[[File:Fregio della gigantomachia 02.JPG|thumb|The Pergamene style of the Hellenistic period, from the [[Pergamon Altar]], early 2nd century]]
[[File:Tanagra o corinto, figura di donna seduta, 325-150 ac ca. 11.JPG|thumb|Small [[Greek terracotta figurines]] were very popular as ornaments in the home]]
The [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic period]] is conventionally dated from the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BCE, and ending either with the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by [[Roman Republic|Rome]] in 146 BCE or with the final defeat of the last remaining successor-state to Alexander's empire after the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BCE, which also marks the end of [[Republican Rome]].<ref name="ReferenceC">Alexander The Great and the Hellenistic Age, p. xiii. Green P. {{ISBN|978-0-7538-2413-9}}.</ref>  It is thus much longer than the previous periods, and includes at least two major phases: a "Pergamene" style of experimentation, exuberance and some sentimentality and vulgarity, and in the 2nd century BCE a classicising return to a more austere simplicity and elegance; beyond such generalizations dating is typically very uncertain, especially when only later copies are known, as is usually the case. The initial Pergamene style was not especially associated with [[Pergamon]], from which it takes its name, but the very wealthy kings of that state were among the first to collect and also copy Classical sculpture, and also commissioned much new work, including the famous [[Pergamon Altar]] whose sculpture is now mostly in Berlin and which exemplifies the new style, as do the   [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] (another of the Seven Wonders), the famous ''[[Laocoön and his Sons]]'' in the [[Vatican Museums]], a late example, and the bronze original of ''[[The Dying Gaul]]'' (illustrated at top), which we know was part of a group actually commissioned for Pergamon in about 228 BCE, from which the [[Ludovisi Gaul]] was also a copy. The group called the [[Farnese Bull]], possibly a 2nd-century marble original, is still larger and more complex,<ref>Cook, 142–56.</ref>

Hellenistic sculpture greatly expanded the range of subjects represented, partly as a result of greater general prosperity, and the emergence of a very wealthy class who had large houses decorated with sculpture, although we know that some examples of subjects that seem best suited to the home, such as children with animals, were in fact placed in temples or other public places. For a much more popular home decoration market there were [[Tanagra figurine]]s, and those from other centres where small pottery figures were produced on an industrial scale, some religious but others showing animals and elegantly dressed ladies. Sculptors became more technically skilled in representing facial expressions conveying a wide variety of emotions and the portraiture of individuals, as well representing different ages and races. The reliefs from the Mausoleum are rather atypical in that respect; most work was free-standing, and group compositions with several figures to be seen in the round, like the ''Laocoon'' and the Pergamon group celebrating victory over the Gauls became popular, having been rare before. The [[Barberini Faun]], showing a [[satyr]] sprawled asleep, presumably after drink, is an example of the moral relaxation of the period, and the readiness to create large and expensive sculptures of subjects that fall short of the heroic.<ref>Cook, 142–54.</ref>

After the conquests of Alexander [[Hellenistic culture]] was dominant in the courts of most of the Near East, and some of [[Central Asia]], and increasingly being adopted by European elites, especially in Italy, where [[Magna Graecia|Greek colonies]] initially controlled most of the South. Hellenistic art, and artists, spread very widely, and was especially influential in the expanding Roman Republic and when it encountered Buddhism in the easternmost extensions of the Hellenistic area. The massive so-called [[Alexander Sarcophagus]] found in [[Sidon]] in modern Lebanon, was probably made there at the start of the period by expatriate Greek artists for a Hellenized Persian governor.<ref>Cook, 155–58.</ref>  The wealth of the period led to a greatly increased production of luxury forms of small sculpture, including [[engraved gem]]s and cameos, jewellery, and gold and silverware.

<gallery widths="175px" heights="200px">
File:Reggio calabria museo nazionale bronzi di riace.jpg|The [[Riace Bronzes]], very rare bronze figures recovered from the sea, c. 460–430
File:Hermes and the infant Dionysus by Praxiteles.jpg|''[[Hermes and the Infant Dionysos]]'', possibly an original by [[Praxiteles]], 4th century
File:Italia del sud, due statuette femminili dolenti, 350-300 ac. ca.JPG|Two elegant ladies, pottery figurines, 350–300
File:Bronze statuette of a horse MET DP120125.jpg|''Bronze Statuette of a Horse,'' late 2nd – 1st century BCE [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Nike of Samothrake Louvre Ma2369 n4.jpg|''The [[Winged Victory of Samothrace]]'', {{circa|190 BCE}}, [[Louvre]]
File:Venus de Milo Louvre Ma399 n4.jpg|''[[Venus de Milo]]'', {{circa|130}}–100 BCE, [[Culture of Greece|Greek]], the [[Louvre]]
File:Laocoön and his sons group.jpg|''[[Laocoön and his Sons]]'', Greek, (Late [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]]), perhaps a copy, between 200 BCE and 20 CE, [[white marble]], [[Vatican Museum]]
File:0 Apollon du Belvédère - Cortile Ottagono - Museo Pio-Clementino - Vatican (2).JPG|[[Leochares]], ''[[Apollo Belvedere]]'', {{circa|130}}–140 CE. Roman copy after a Greek bronze original of 330–320 BCE. Vatican Museums
</gallery>

====Europe after the Greeks====
=====Roman sculpture=====
{{main|Roman sculpture}}
[[File:26 colonna traiana da estt 05.jpg|thumb|Section of [[Trajan's Column]], CE 113, with scenes from the [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacian Wars]]]]
[[File:Ara Pacis Relief Pax.jpg|thumb|[[Augustus|Augustan]] state Greco-Roman style on the {{Lang|la|[[Ara Pacis]]|italic=no}}, 13 BCE]]
Early Roman art was influenced by the art of Greece and that of the neighbouring [[Etruscan art|Etruscans]], themselves greatly influenced by their Greek trading partners. An Etruscan speciality was near life size tomb effigies in [[terracotta]], usually lying on top of a [[sarcophagus]] lid propped up on one elbow in the pose of a diner in that period. As the expanding [[Roman Republic]] began to conquer Greek territory, at first in Southern Italy and then the entire Hellenistic world except for the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] far east, official and [[Roman patrician|patrician]] sculpture became largely an extension of the Hellenistic style, from which specifically Roman elements are hard to disentangle, especially as so much Greek sculpture survives only in copies of the Roman period.<ref>Strong, 58–63; Hennig, 66–69.</ref> By the 2nd century BCE, "most of the sculptors working at Rome" were Greek,<ref>Hennig, 24.</ref> often enslaved in conquests such as that of [[Corinth]] (146 BCE), and sculptors continued to be mostly Greeks, often slaves, whose names are very rarely recorded. Vast numbers of Greek statues were imported to Rome, whether as booty or the result of extortion or commerce, and temples were often decorated with re-used Greek works.<ref>Henig, 66–69; Strong, 36–39, 48; At the trial of [[Verres]], former governor of Sicily, [[Cicero]]'s prosecution details his depredations of art collections at great length.</ref>

A native Italian style can be seen in the tomb monuments, which very often featured portrait busts, of prosperous middle-class Romans, and [[Roman portraiture|portraiture]] is arguably the main strength of Roman sculpture. There are no survivals from the tradition of masks of ancestors that were worn in processions at the funerals of the great families and otherwise displayed in the home, but many of the busts that survive must represent ancestral figures, perhaps from the large family tombs like the [[Tomb of the Scipios]] or the later mausolea outside the city. The famous bronze head supposedly of [[Lucius Junius Brutus]] is very variously dated, but taken as a very rare survival of Italic style under the Republic, in the preferred medium of bronze.<ref>Henig, 23–24.</ref> Similarly stern and forceful heads are seen on coins of the Late Republic, and in the Imperial period coins as well as busts sent around the Empire to be placed in the [[basilica]]s of provincial cities were the main visual form of imperial propaganda; even [[Londinium]] had a near-colossal statue of [[Nero]], though far smaller than the 30-metre-high [[Colossus of Nero]] in Rome, now lost.<ref>Henig, 66–71.</ref>

The Romans did not generally attempt to compete with free-standing Greek works of heroic exploits from history or mythology, but from early on produced historical works in relief, culminating in the great [[Roman triumphal column]]s with continuous narrative reliefs winding around them, of which those commemorating [[Trajan's Column|Trajan]] (CE 113) and [[Column of Marcus Aurelius|Marcus Aurelius]] (by 193) survive in Rome, where the {{Lang|la|[[Ara Pacis]]|italic=no}} ("Altar of Peace", 13 BCE) represents the official Greco-Roman style at its most classical and refined. Among other major examples are the earlier re-used reliefs on the [[Arch of Constantine]] and the base of the [[Column of Antoninus Pius]] (161),<ref>Henig, 73–82; Strong, 48–52, 80–83, 108–17, 128–32, 141–59, 177–82, 197–211.</ref> [[Campana relief]]s were cheaper pottery versions of marble reliefs and the taste for relief was from the imperial period expanded to the sarcophagus. All forms of luxury small sculpture continued to be patronized, and quality could be extremely high, as in the silver [[Warren Cup]], glass [[Lycurgus Cup]], and large cameos like the [[Gemma Augustea]], [[Gonzaga Cameo]] and the "[[Great Cameo of France]]".<ref>Henig, Chapter 6; Strong, 303–15.</ref>  For a much wider section of the population, moulded relief decoration of [[Ancient Roman pottery|pottery vessels]] and small figurines were produced in great quantity and often considerable quality.<ref>Henig, Chapter 8.</ref>

After moving through a late 2nd-century "baroque" phase,<ref>Strong, 171–76, 211–14.</ref> in the 3rd century, Roman art largely abandoned, or simply became unable to produce, sculpture in the classical tradition, a change whose causes remain much discussed. Even the most important imperial monuments now showed stumpy, large-eyed figures in a harsh frontal style, in simple compositions emphasizing power at the expense of grace. The contrast is famously illustrated in the [[Arch of Constantine]] of 315 in Rome, which combines sections in the new style with [[roundel]]s in the earlier full Greco-Roman style taken from elsewhere, and the ''[[Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs|Four Tetrarchs]]'' ({{Circa|305}}) from the new capital of [[Constantinople]], now in Venice. [[Ernst Kitzinger]] found in both monuments the same "stubby proportions, angular movements, an ordering of parts through symmetry and repetition and a rendering of features and drapery folds through incisions rather than modelling... The hallmark of the style wherever it appears consists of an emphatic hardness, heaviness and angularity—in short, an almost complete rejection of the classical tradition".<ref>Kitzinger, 9 (both quotes), more generally his Ch 1; Strong, 250–57, 264–66, 272–80.</ref>

This revolution in style shortly preceded the period in which [[Christianity]] was adopted by the Roman state and the great majority of the people, leading to the end of large religious sculpture, with large statues now only used for emperors. However, rich Christians continued to commission reliefs for sarcophagi, as in the [[Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus]], and very small sculpture, especially in ivory, was continued by Christians, building on the style of the [[consular diptych]].<ref>Strong, 287–91, 305–08, 315–18; Henig, 234–40.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Museo archeologico di Firenze, coperchio di sepolcro muliebre da Tuscania, terracotta con tracce di policromia III sec. d.c.JPG|[[Etruscan art|Etruscan]] [[sarcophagus]], 3rd century BCE
File:Capitoline Brutus Musei Capitolini MC1183 02.jpg|The "[[Capitoline Brutus]]", dated to the 3rd or 1st century BCE
File:Statue-Augustus.jpg|''[[Augustus of Prima Porta]]'', statue of the emperor [[Augustus]], 1st century CE. [[Vatican Museums]]
File:Tomba dei decii, dalla via ostiense, 98-117 dc..JPG|Tomb relief of the Decii, 98–117 CE
File:Claudius Pio-Clementino Inv243.jpg|Bust of [[Emperor Claudius]], {{Circa|50 CE}}, (reworked from a bust of emperor [[Caligula]]), It was found in the so-called Otricoli basilica in [[Lanuvium]], Italy, [[Vatican Museums]]
File:COMMODE HERCULE.jpg|[[Commodus]] dressed as [[Hercules]], {{Circa|191 CE}}, in the late imperial "baroque" style
File:Venice – The Tetrarchs 03.jpg|''[[Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs|The Four Tetrarchs]]'', {{Circa|305}}, showing the new anti-classical style, in [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry]], now [[San Marco, Venice]]
File:Great Cameo of France CdM Paris Bab264 white background.jpg|The [[hardstone carving|cameo gem]] known as the "[[Great Cameo of France]]", {{Circa|23 CE}}, with an [[allegory]] of [[Augustus]] and his family
</gallery>

=====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>

=====Romanesque=====
{{main|Romanesque art}}
[[File:Braunschweiger Löwe, original in the Dankwarderode Castle - Braunschweig, Germany - DSC04562.JPG|thumb|''[[Brunswick Lion]]'', 1166, the first large hollow casting of a figure since antiquity, 1.78 metres tall and 2.79 metres long]]
[[Image:Cologne Cathedral Shrine of Magi.jpg|thumb|''[[Shrine of the Three Kings]]'' in [[Cologne Cathedral]]]]
Beginning in roughly 1000 A.D., there was a rebirth of artistic production in all Europe, led by general economic growth in production and commerce, and the new style of [[Romanesque art]] was the first medieval style to be used in the whole of Western Europe. The new cathedrals and pilgrim's churches were increasingly decorated with architectural stone reliefs, and new focuses for sculpture developed, such as the [[Tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]] over church doors in the 12th century, and the inhabited [[Capital (architecture)#Romanesque and Gothic capitals|capital]] with figures and often narrative scenes. Outstanding abbey churches with sculpture include in France [[Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay|Vézelay]] and [[Moissac Abbey|Moissac]] and in Spain [[Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos|Silos]].<ref>Calkins, 79–80, 90–102.</ref>

Romanesque art was characterised by a very vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. The capitals of columns were never more exciting than in this period, when they were often carved with complete scenes with several figures.<ref>Calkins, 107–14.</ref>  The large wooden [[crucifix]] was a German innovation right at the start of the period, as were free-standing statues of the enthroned Madonna, but the [[high relief]] was above all the sculptural mode of the period. Compositions usually had little depth, and needed to be flexible to squeeze themselves into the shapes of capitals, and church typanums; the tension between a tightly enclosing frame, from which the composition sometimes escapes, is a recurrent theme in Romanesque art. Figures still often varied in size in relation to their importance portraiture hardly existed.

Objects in precious materials such as ivory and metal had a very high status in the period, much more so than monumental sculpture — we know the names of more makers of these than painters, illuminators or architect-masons. Metalwork, including decoration in [[Vitreous enamel|enamel]], became very sophisticated, and many spectacular shrines made to hold relics have survived, of which the best known is the [[Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral]] by [[Nicholas of Verdun]]. The bronze [[Gloucester candlestick]] and the [[Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège|brass font of 1108–17 now in Liège]] are superb examples, very different in style, of metal casting, the former highly intricate and energetic, drawing on manuscript painting, while the font shows the Mosan style at its most classical and majestic. The bronze doors, a triumphal column and other fittings at [[St. Mary's Cathedral, Hildesheim|Hildesheim Cathedral]], the [[Gniezno Doors]], and the doors of the [[Basilica di San Zeno]] in [[Verona]] are other substantial survivals. The [[aquamanile]], a container for water to wash with, appears to have been introduced to Europe in the 11th century, and often took fantastic [[zoomorphic]] forms; surviving examples are mostly in brass. Many wax impressions from impressive seals survive on charters and documents, although Romanesque coins are generally not of great aesthetic interest.<ref>Calkins, 115–32.</ref>

The [[Cloisters Cross]] is an unusually large [[ivory]] [[crucifix]], with complex carving including many figures of [[prophet]]s and others, which has been attributed to one of the relatively few artists whose name is known, [[Master Hugo]], who also illuminated manuscripts. Like many pieces it was originally partly coloured. The [[Lewis chessmen]] are well-preserved examples of small ivories, of which many pieces or fragments remain from [[crozier]]s, plaques, [[pectoral cross]]es and similar objects.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="170px">
File:Renier de Huy JPG0.jpg|[[Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège]], ''[[Baptism of Jesus|Baptism of Christ]]'', 1107–1118
File:02 Basilique Ste-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay - Tympan.jpg|The tympanum of [[Vézelay Abbey]], [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]], France, 1130s
File:Cathedral of Ourense (Spain).jpg|''Facade,'' Cathedral of [[Ourense]] 1160, Spain
File:Apóstoles del Pórtico de la Gloria.jpg|''Pórtico da Gloria'', [[Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], Spain, {{Circa|12th}}–13th centuries
</gallery>

===== Gothic =====
{{main|Gothic art}}
[[File:Vierge a l'Enfant debout.jpg|thumb|French ivory Virgin and Child, end of 13th century, 25 cm high, curving to fit the shape of the ivory tusk]]
The Gothic period is essentially defined by [[Gothic architecture]], and does not entirely fit with the development of style in sculpture in either its start or finish. The facades of large churches, especially around doors, continued to have large typanums, but also rows of sculpted figures spreading around them. The statues on the Western (Royal) Portal at [[Chartres Cathedral]] ({{circa|1145}}) show an elegant but exaggerated columnar elongation, but those on the south [[transept]] portal, from 1215 to 1220, show a more naturalistic style and increasing detachment from the wall behind, and some awareness of the classical tradition. These trends were continued in the west portal at [[Reims Cathedral]] of a few years later, where the figures are almost in the round, as became usual as Gothic spread across Europe.<ref>Honour and Fleming, 297–300; Henderson, 55, 82–84.</ref>

In Italy [[Nicola Pisano]] (1258–1278) and his son [[Giovanni Pisano|Giovanni]] developed a style that is often called [[Proto-Renaissance]], with unmistakable influence from Roman sarcophagi and sophisticated and crowded compositions, including a sympathetic handling of nudity, in relief panels on their [[Siena Cathedral Pulpit]] (1265–68), [[Pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery]] (1260), the [[Fontana Maggiore]] in [[Perugia]], and Giovanni's [[Pulpit by Giovanni Pisano in Sant'Andrea, Pistoia|pulpit in Pistoia]] of 1301.<ref>Olson, 11–24; Honour and Fleming, 304; Henderson, 41.</ref>  Another revival of classical style is seen in the [[International Gothic]] work of [[Claus Sluter]] and his followers in [[Burgundy (historical region)|Burgundy]] and [[Flanders]] around 1400.<ref>Snyder, 65–69.</ref>  Late Gothic sculpture continued in the North, with a fashion for very large wooden sculpted altarpieces with increasingly virtuoso carving and large numbers agitated expressive figures; most surviving examples are in Germany, after much iconoclasm elsewhere. [[Tilman Riemenschneider]], [[Veit Stoss]] and others continued the style well into the 16th century, gradually absorbing Italian Renaissance influences.<ref>Snyder, 305–11.</ref>

Life-size tomb effigies in stone or [[alabaster]] became popular for the wealthy, and grand multi-level tombs evolved, with the [[Scaliger Tombs]] of [[Verona]] so large they had to be moved outside the church. By the 15th century there was an industry exporting [[Nottingham alabaster]] altar reliefs in groups of panels over much of Europe for economical parishes who could not afford stone retables.<ref>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/bbchistory/object_text07.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804003215/http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/bbchistory/object_text07.htm|date=2012-08-04}} [[V&A Museum]] feature on the Nottingham alabaster ''Swansea Altarpiece''.</ref>  Small carvings, for a mainly lay and often female market, became a considerable industry in Paris and some other centres. Types of ivories included small devotional [[polyptych]]s, [[Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle|single figures, especially of the Virgin]], mirror-cases, combs, and [[Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264)|elaborate caskets with scenes from Romances]], used as engagement presents.<ref>Calkins, 193–98.</ref>  The very wealthy collected extravagantly elaborate jewelled and enamelled metalwork, both secular and religious, like the [[Duc de Berry]]'s [[Holy Thorn Reliquary]], until they ran short of money, when they were melted down again for cash.<ref>Cherry, 25–48; Henderson, 134–41.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Chartres2006 077.jpg|West portal of [[Chartres Cathedral]] ({{circa|1145}})
File:Chartres cathedral 023 martyrs S TTaylor.JPG|South portal of [[Chartres Cathedral]] ({{circa|1215}}–1220)
File:Reims6.jpg|West portal at [[Reims Cathedral]], [[Annunciation]] group
File:Pisa.Baptistery.pulpit02.jpg|[[Nicola Pisano]], ''Nativity'' and ''[[Adoration of the Magi]]'' from the [[Pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery]]
File:Bamberger Dom-Bamberger Reiter.JPG|The [[Bamberg Horseman]] 1237, near life-size stone [[equestrian statue]], the first of this kind since [[antiquities|antiquity]].
File:French - Casket with Scenes of Romances - Walters 71264 - Top.jpg|Lid of the [[Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264)|Walters Casket]], with the ''Siege of the Castle of Love'' at left, and [[jousting]]. Paris, 1330–1350
File:Siege castle love Louvre OA6933.jpg|''Siege of the Castle of Love'' on a mirror-case in the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]], 1350–1370; the ladies are losing.
File:Pietà Naumburg Cathedral 01a.jpg|Central German [[Pietà]], 1330–1340
File:Dijon mosesbrunnen4.jpg|[[Claus Sluter]], [[David (biblical king)|David]] and a [[prophet]] from the ''Well of Moses''
File:Holy Thorn Reliquary base.jpg|Base of the [[Holy Thorn Reliquary]], a ''Resurrection of the Dead'' in gold, enamel and gems
File:English - Resurrection - Walters 27308.jpg|Section of a panelled altarpiece with ''[[Resurrection of Christ]]'', English, 1450–1490, [[Nottingham alabaster]] with remains of colour
File:Rothenburg ob der Tauber 2011 St Jakob 002.JPG|Detail of the [[Last Supper]] from [[Tilman Riemenschneider]]'s ''Altar of the Holy Blood'', 1501–1505, [[Rothenburg ob der Tauber]], [[Bavaria]]
</gallery>

====Renaissance====
[[File:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450 cropncleaned edit.jpg|thumb|[[Michelangelo]], ''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'', 1499]]
[[File:Rome-Basilique San Pietro in Vincoli-Moise MichelAnge.jpg|thumb|[[Michelangelo]], The [[Tomb of Pope Julius II]], {{circa|1545}}, with statues of [[Rachel]] and [[Leah]] on the left and right of his ''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'']]{{Main|Sculpture in the Renaissance Period|Italian Renaissance sculpture}}
Renaissance sculpture proper is often taken to begin with the famous competition for the doors of the [[Florence Baptistry]] in 1403, from which the trial models submitted by the winner, [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], and [[Filippo Brunelleschi]] survive. Ghiberti's doors are still in place, but were undoubtedly eclipsed by his second pair for the other entrance, the so-called ''Gates of Paradise'', which took him from 1425 to 1452, and are dazzlingly confident classicizing compositions with varied depths of relief allowing extensive backgrounds.<ref>Olson, 41–46, 62–63.</ref> The intervening years had seen Ghiberti's early assistant [[Donatello]] develop with seminal statues including his ''[[David (Donatello, marble)|Davids]]'' in marble (1408–09) and bronze (1440s), and his [[Equestrian statue of Gattamelata]], as well as reliefs.<ref>Olson, 45–52, and see index.</ref> A leading figure in the later period was [[Andrea del Verrocchio]], best known for his [[equestrian statue]] of [[Bartolomeo Colleoni]] in Venice;<ref>Olson, 114–18, 149–50.</ref> his pupil [[Leonardo da Vinci]] designed an equine sculpture in 1482 ''[[Leonardo's horse|The Horse]]'' for [[Milan]], but only succeeded in making a {{convert|24|ft|m|adj=on}} clay model which was destroyed by French archers in 1499, and his other ambitious sculptural plans were never completed.<ref>Olson, 149–50.</ref>

The period was marked by a great increase in patronage of sculpture by the state for public art and by the wealthy for their homes; especially in Italy, public sculpture remains a crucial element in the appearance of historic city centres. Church sculpture mostly moved inside just as outside public monuments became common. Portrait sculpture, usually in busts, became popular in Italy around 1450, with the [[Naples|Neapolitan]] [[Francesco Laurana]] specializing in young women in meditative poses, while [[Antonio Rossellino]] and others more often depicted knobbly-faced men of affairs, but also young children.<ref>Olson, 103–10, 131–32.</ref>  The portrait [[medal]] invented by [[Pisanello]] also often depicted women; relief [[plaquette]]s were another new small form of sculpture in cast metal.

Michelangelo was an active sculptor from about 1500 to 1520, and his great masterpieces including his ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', ''[[Pieta (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'', ''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'', and pieces for the [[Tomb of Pope Julius II]] and [[Medici Chapels|Medici Chapel]] could not be ignored by subsequent sculptors. His iconic David (1504) has a ''[[contrapposto]]'' pose, borrowed from classical sculpture. It differs from previous representations of the subject in that David is depicted before his battle with Goliath and not after the giant's defeat. Instead of being shown victorious, as Donatello and Verocchio had done, David looks tense and battle ready.<ref>Olson, Chapter 8, 179–81.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Ghiberti-porta.jpg|[[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], panel of the ''[[Sacrifice of Isaac]]'' from the [[Florence Baptistry]] doors; [[:File:Abraham (Gates of Paradise) 01.JPG|oblique view here]]
File:Cantoria Della Robbia OPA Florence 6.jpg|[[Luca della Robbia]], detail of ''Cantoria'', {{circa|1438}}, [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]], Florence
File:Florence - David by Donatello.jpg|[[Donatello]], ''[[David (Donatello, bronze)|David]]'' {{circa|1440s}}, [[Bargello Museum]], [[Florence]]
File:Firenze.PalVecchio.Donatello.JPG|[[Donatello]], ''[[Judith and Holofernes (Donatello)|Judith and Holofernes]]'', {{circa|1460}}, [[Palazzo Vecchio]], [[Florence]]
File:Francesco Laurana pushkin.jpg|[[Francesco Laurana]], female bust (cast)
File:Verrochioorsanmichelle.jpg|[[Verrocchio]], ''[[Christ and St. Thomas (Verrocchio)|Doubting Thomas]]'', 1467–1483, [[Orsanmichele]], [[Florence]]
File:'David' by Michelangelo Fir JBU005 denoised.jpg|[[Michelangelo]], ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', {{Circa|1504}}, [[Galleria dell'Accademia]], [[Florence]]
File:'Dying Slave' Michelangelo JBU001.jpg|[[Michelangelo]], ''[[Dying Slave]]'', {{Circa|1513–1516}}
</gallery>

====Mannerist====
{{main|Mannerism}}
[[File:Devries-mercuriocrop.jpg|thumb|[[Adriaen de Vries]], ''Mercury and Psyche'' [[Northern Mannerist]] life-size bronze, made in 1593 for [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor]].]]
As in painting, early Italian [[Mannerist]] sculpture was very largely an attempt to find an original style that would top the achievement of the [[High Renaissance]], which in sculpture essentially meant Michelangelo, and much of the struggle to achieve this was played out in commissions to fill other places in the [[Piazza della Signoria]] in Florence, next to Michelangelo's ''David''. [[Baccio Bandinelli]] took over the project of ''[[Hercules and Cacus]]'' from the master himself, but it was little more popular than it is now, and maliciously compared by [[Benvenuto Cellini]] to "a sack of melons", though it had a long-lasting effect in apparently introducing relief panels on the [[pedestal]] of statues for the first time. Like other works of his, and other Mannerists, it removes far more of the original block than Michelangelo would have done.<ref>Olson, 179–82.</ref>  Cellini's bronze ''[[Perseus with the head of Medusa]]'' is certainly a masterpiece, designed with eight angles of view, another Mannerist characteristic, but is indeed mannered compared to the ''David''s of Michelangelo and Donatello.<ref>Olson, 183–87.</ref>  Originally a goldsmith, his famous gold and enamel [[Cellini Salt Cellar|Salt Cellar]] (1543) was his first sculpture, and shows his talent at its best.<ref>Olson, 182–83.</ref>  As these examples show, the period extended the range of secular subjects for large works beyond portraits, with mythological figures especially favoured; previously these had mostly been found in small works.

Small bronze figures for collector's [[Cabinet (room)|cabinets]], often mythological subjects with nudes, were a popular Renaissance form at which [[Giambologna]], originally [[Flanders|Flemish]] but based in Florence, excelled in the later part of the century, also creating life-size sculptures, of which two joined the collection in the Piazza della Signoria. He and his followers devised elegant elongated examples of the ''[[figura serpentinata]]'', often of two intertwined figures, that were interesting from all angles.<ref>Olson, 194–202.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Fontainebleau escalier roi.jpg|[[Stucco]] [[overdoor]] at [[palace of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], probably designed by [[Primaticcio]], who painted the oval inset, 1530s or 1540s
File:Persee-florence.jpg|[[Benvenuto Cellini]], ''[[Perseus with the head of Medusa]]'', 1545–1554
File:Samson slaying a philistine.jpg|[[Giambologna]], ''[[Samson Slaying a Philistine]]'', about 1562
File:Giambologna raptodasabina.jpg|[[Giambologna]], ''[[Abduction of a Sabine Woman|Rape of the Sabine Women]]'', 1583, Florence, Italy, 13' 6" (4.1&nbsp;m) high, [[marble]]
</gallery>

====Baroque and Rococo====
{{main|Baroque sculpture}}
[[File:Apollo and Daphne (Bernini).jpg|thumb|[[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]], ''[[Apollo and Daphne (Bernini)|Apollo and Daphne]]'' in the [[Galleria Borghese]], 1622–1625]]
In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance, and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms— they spiralled around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space. Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles, and reflected a general continuation of the Renaissance move away from the relief to sculpture created in the round, and designed to be placed in the middle of a large space—elaborate fountains such as Bernini's [[Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi]] (Rome, 1651), or those in the [[Gardens of Versailles]] were a Baroque speciality. The [[Baroque]] style was perfectly suited to sculpture, with [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] the dominating figure of the age in works such as ''[[The Ecstasy of St Theresa]]'' (1647–1652).<ref>Boucher, 134–42 on the [[Cornaro chapel]]; see index for Bernini generally.</ref> Much Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains, or fused sculpture and architecture to create a transformative experience for the viewer. Artists saw themselves as in the classical tradition, but admired [[Hellenistic]] and later Roman sculpture, rather than that of the more "Classical" periods as they are seen today.<ref>Boucher, 16–18.</ref>

The [[Protestant Reformation]] brought an almost total stop to religious sculpture in much of Northern Europe, and though secular sculpture, especially for portrait busts and [[tomb monument]]s, continued, the [[Dutch Golden Age]] has no significant sculptural component outside goldsmithing.<ref>Honour and Fleming, 450.</ref>  Partly in direct reaction, sculpture was as prominent in [[Roman Catholic church|Roman Catholicism]] as in the late Middle Ages. Statues of rulers and the nobility became increasingly popular. In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines—the [[Trevi Fountain]] was only completed in 1762. [[Rococo]] style was better suited to smaller works, and arguably found its ideal sculptural form in [[Ceramic art#Porcelain|early European porcelain]], and interior decorative schemes in wood or plaster such as those in French domestic interiors and [[Architecture of cathedrals and great churches#Rococo|Austrian and Bavarian pilgrimage churches]].<ref>Honour and Fleming, 460–67.</ref>

<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">
File:Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon - Louis XIV 1.jpg|Bust of [[Louis XIV]], 1686, by [[Antoine Coysevox]]
File:Francesco Mochi Santa Verónica 1629-32 Vaticano.jpg|Saint Veronica by [[Francesco Mochi]] (1640), [[Saint Peter's Basilica]]
File:Perseus Andromeda Puget Louvre MR2076.jpg|[[Pierre Paul Puget]], ''Perseus and Andromeda'', 1715, [[Musée du Louvre]]
File:Bustelli Liebesgruppe Der gestörte Schläfer BNM.jpg|[[Franz Anton Bustelli]], [[Rococo]] [[Nymphenburg Porcelain]] group
</gallery>

====Neo-Classical====
{{main|Neoclassical sculpture}}
[[File:0 Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour - Canova - Louvre 1.JPG|thumb|[[Antonio Canova]]: ''[[Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss|Psyche Revived by Love's Kiss]]'', 1787]]
The [[Neoclassical sculpture|Neoclassical style]] that arrived in the late 18th century gave great emphasis to sculpture. [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]] exemplifies the penetrating portrait sculpture the style could produce, and [[Antonio Canova]]'s nudes the idealist aspect of the movement. The Neoclassical period was one of the great ages of public sculpture, though its "classical" prototypes were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. In sculpture, the most familiar representatives are the Italian [[Antonio Canova]], the Englishman [[John Flaxman]] and the Dane [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]]. The European neoclassical manner also took hold in the United States, where its pinnacle occurred somewhat later and is exemplified in the sculptures of [[Hiram Powers]].

<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">
File:Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) MET DT2883.jpg|[[Jean-Antoine Houdon]], ''Bust of [[Benjamin Franklin]]'', 1778, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Jasão e o Velo de ouro - Bertel Thorvaldsen - 1803.jpg|[[Bertel Thorvaldsen]]: ''[[Jason|Jason and the Golden Fleece]]'' (1803)
File:Badger church - Jane and Henrietta Browne.jpg|[[John Flaxman]], Memorial in the church at [[Badger, Shropshire]], {{circa|1780s}}
File:The Greek Slave.jpg|[[Hiram Powers]], 1851, ''[[The Greek Slave]]'', [[Yale University Art Gallery]]
</gallery>

===Asia===
==== Greco-Buddhist sculpture and Asia ====
{{main|Greco-Buddhist art}}
[[File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|[[Standing Buddha (Tokyo National Museum)|One of the first representations]] of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], 1st–2nd century CE, [[Gandhara]]]]
[[Greco-Buddhist art]] is the artistic manifestation of [[Greco-Buddhism]], a cultural [[syncretism]] between the [[Ancient Greece|Classical Greek]] culture and [[Buddhism]], which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|conquests of Alexander the Great]] in the 4th century BCE, and the Islamic conquests of the 7th century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is characterized by the strong idealistic realism of Hellenistic art and the first representations of the Buddha in human form, which have helped define the artistic (and particularly, sculptural) canon for Buddhist art throughout the Asian continent up to the present. Though dating is uncertain, it appears that strongly Hellenistic styles lingered in the East for several centuries after they had declined around the Mediterranean, as late as the 5th century CE. Some aspects of Greek art were adopted while others did not spread beyond the Greco-Buddhist area; in particular the standing figure, often with a relaxed pose and one leg flexed, and the flying cupids or victories, who became popular across Asia as [[apsara]]s. Greek foliage decoration was also influential, with Indian versions of the [[Corinthian capital]] appearing.<ref>Boardman, 370–78; Harle, 71–84.</ref>

The origins of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]] (250–130 BCE), located in today's [[Afghanistan]], from which Hellenistic culture radiated into the [[Indian subcontinent]] with the establishment of the small [[Indo-Greek kingdom]] (180–10 BCE). Under the [[Indo-Greeks]] and then the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]]s, the interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of [[Gandhara]], in today's northern Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], and then the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] art of the [[Gupta empire]], which was to extend to the rest of South-East Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards [[Central Asia]], strongly affecting the art of the [[Tarim Basin]] and the [[Dunhuang Caves]], and ultimately the sculpted figure in China, Korea, and Japan.<ref>Boardman, 370–78; Sickman, 85–90; Paine, 29–30.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:GandharaDonorFrieze2.JPG|Gandhara frieze with devotees, holding [[Plantain (cooking)|plantain]] leaves, in purely Hellenistic style, inside [[Corinthian column]]s, 1st–2nd century CE. [[Buner]], [[Swat (Pakistan)|Swat]], Pakistan. [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]
File:WindGod2.JPG|Fragment of the wind god [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]], [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]], Afghanistan.
File:Demetrius I MET coin.jpg|Coin of [[Demetrius I of Bactria]], who reigned circa 200–180 BCE and invaded Northern India
File:Bouddha Hadda Guimet 181171.jpg|[[Stucco]] Buddha head, once painted, from [[Hadda, Afghanistan]], 3rd–4th centuries
File:PoseidonGandhara.JPG|Gandhara [[Poseidon]] ([[Ancient Orient Museum]])
File:PharroAndArdoxsho.jpg|The Buddhist gods [[Pancika]] (left) and [[Hariti]] (right), 3rd century, [[Takht-i-Bahi]], Pakistan
File:Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction.jpg|[[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Taller Buddha of Bamiyan]], {{Circa|547 CE}}, in 1963 and in 2008 after they were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the [[Taliban]] in Afghanistan

</gallery>

====China====
{{Main|Chinese art|Chinese ceramics|Lacquerware|Chinese jade}}
[[File:Guanyin 00.jpg|thumb|Seated [[Bodhisattva]] [[Guanyin]], wood and pigment, 11th century, [[Northern Song dynasty]]]]
[[Chinese ritual bronzes]] from the [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] and [[Zhou dynasty|Western Zhou dynasties]] come from a period of over a thousand years from {{Circa|1500 BCE}}, and have exerted a continuing influence over [[Chinese art]]. They are cast with complex patterned and [[zoomorphic]] decoration, but avoid the human figure, unlike the huge figures only recently discovered at [[Sanxingdui]].<ref>Rawson, Chapter 1, 135–36.</ref>  The spectacular [[Terracotta Army]] was assembled for the tomb of [[Qin Shi Huang]], the first emperor of a unified China from 221 to 210 BCE, as a grand imperial version of the figures long placed in tombs to enable the deceased to enjoy the same lifestyle in the afterlife as when alive, replacing actual sacrifices of very early periods. Smaller figures in pottery or wood were placed in tombs for many centuries afterwards, reaching a peak of quality in [[Tang dynasty tomb figures]].<ref>Rawson, 138–38.</ref>  The tradition of unusually large pottery figures persisted in China, through Tang [[sancai]] tomb figures to later Buddhist statues such as the near life-size set of [[Yixian glazed pottery luohans]] and later figures for temples and tombs.  These came to replace earlier equivalents in wood.

Native Chinese religions do not usually use cult images of deities, or even represent them, and large religious sculpture is nearly all Buddhist, dating mostly from the 4th to the 14th century, and initially using Greco-Buddhist models arriving via the [[Silk Road]]. Buddhism is also the context of all large portrait sculpture; in total contrast to some other areas, in medieval China even painted images of the emperor were regarded as private. Imperial tombs have spectacular avenues of approach lined with real and mythological animals on a scale matching Egypt, and smaller versions decorate temples and palaces.<ref>Rawson, 135–45, 145–63.</ref>

Small Buddhist figures and groups were produced to a very high quality in a range of media,<ref>Rawson, 163–65</ref> as was relief decoration of all sorts of objects, especially in metalwork and [[Chinese jade|jade]].<ref>Rawson, Chapters 4 and 6.</ref>  In the earlier periods, large quantities of sculpture were cut from the living rock in pilgrimage cave-complexes, and as outside [[rock reliefs]].  These were mostly originally painted.  In notable contrast to [[Scholar-official|literati]] painters, sculptors of all sorts were regarded as artisans and very few names are recorded.<ref>Rawson, 135.</ref>  From the [[Ming dynasty]] onwards, statuettes of religious and secular figures were produced in [[Chinese porcelain]] and other media, which became an important export.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Liu Ding.jpg|A bronze [[ding (vessel)|ding]] from late [[Shang dynasty]] (13th century–10th century BCE)
File:Chinese tomb guardian 300 BC.jpg|A tomb guardian usually placed inside the doors of the tomb to protect or guide the soul, [[Warring States period]], {{Circa|3rd century BCE}}
File:Soldier Horse.JPG|Lifesize calvalryman from the [[Terracotta Army]], [[Qin dynasty]], {{Circa|3rd century BCE}}
File:Gold monster.jpg|Gold stag with eagle's head, and ten further heads in the antlers. An object inspired by the art of the Siberian Altai mountain, possibly [[Pazyryk culture|Pazyryk]], unearthed at the site of Nalinggaotu, [[Shenmu County]], near [[Xi'an]], [[China]].<ref name="JR">{{cite journal |last1=Rawson |first1=Jessica |title=Design Systems in Early Chinese Art |journal=Orientations |date=1999 |page=52 |url=https://www.zacke.at/sites/default/files/styles/artobject_huge/public/artobjects/b.1e_jessica_rawson_design_systems_in_early_chinese_art_orientations_nov._1999_p._52.jpg |access-date=2020-10-18 |archive-date=2020-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018213315/https://www.zacke.at/sites/default/files/styles/artobject_huge/public/artobjects/b.1e_jessica_rawson_design_systems_in_early_chinese_art_orientations_nov._1999_p._52.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref> Possibly from the "Hun people who lived in the prairie in Northern China". Dated to the 4th-3rd century BCE,<ref name="JR"/> or [[Han dynasty]] period.<ref name="SHM"/> [[Shaanxi History Museum]].<ref name="SHM">{{cite web |title=Shaanxi History Museum notice |url=http://e.sxhm.com/en_product_content.asp?id=49 |website=Shaanxi History Museum |access-date=2020-10-18 |archive-date=2021-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114125435/http://e.sxhm.com/en_product_content.asp?id=49 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
File:Nswag, dinastia han, figurina dipinta di danzatrice.jpg|Tomb figure of dancing girl, [[Han dynasty]] (202 BCE—220 CE)
File:CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - bronze cowrie container.jpg|Bronze [[cowrie]] container with [[yak]]s, from the [[Dian Kingdom]] (4th century BCE – 109 BCE) tradition of the [[Western Han]]
File:Wei-Maitreya.jpg|[[Northern Wei dynasty]] [[Maitreya]] (386–534)
File:China Pferd und Pferdeknecht Linden-Museum.jpg|[[Tang dynasty tomb figure]] in ''[[sancai]]'' glaze pottery, horse and groom (618–907)
File:Mahayanabuddha.jpg|Seated [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Tang dynasty]] c. 650.
File:Song-Bodhisattva1.jpg|A wooden [[Bodhisattva]] from the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279)
File:Chinese - Cup with Dragon Handles - Walters 42250 - Profile.jpg|[[Chinese jade]] Cup with Dragon Handles, [[Song dynasty]], 12th century
File:Bodhisattva Guanyin from Nantoyōsō Collection.jpg|[[Guanyin]] [[Bodhisattva]] in ''[[Blanc de Chine]] (Dehua porcelain)'', by [[He Chaozong]], [[Ming dynasty]], early 17th century
File:Man blowing conch (Wanli Reign Period).JPG|Blue underglaze statue of a man with his pipe, [[Jingdezhen porcelain]], Ming [[Wanli Emperor|Wanli period]] (1573–1620)
File:China - Beijing 12 - lion outside the Tibetan Monastery (134036069).jpg|A [[Chinese guardian lion]] outside [[Yonghe Temple]], Beijing, [[Qing dynasty]], {{circa|1694}}
</gallery>

====Japan====
{{see also|Japanese art|Japanese sculpture|List of National Treasures of Japan (sculptures)}}
[[File:NaraTodaijiDaibutsu0212.jpg|thumb|[[Tōdai-ji|Nara Daibutsu]], {{Circa|752}}, [[Nara, Nara|Nara]], [[Japan]]]]
Towards the end of the long [[Neolithic]] [[Jōmon period]], some [[Jōmon pottery|pottery vessels]] were "flame-rimmed" with extravagant extensions to the rim that can only be called sculptural,<ref>[http://www.nbz.or.jp/eng/middlejomon.htm Middle Jomon Sub-Period] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525100233/http://www.nbz.or.jp/eng/middlejomon.htm |date=2009-05-25 }}, Niigata Prefectural Museum of History, accessed August 15, 2012.</ref> and very stylized pottery [[dogū]] figures were produced, many with the characteristic "snow-goggle" eyes. During the Kofun period of the 3rd to 6th century CE, [[haniwa]] terracotta figures of humans and animals in a simplistic style were erected outside important tombs. The arrival of Buddhism in the 6th century brought with it sophisticated traditions in sculpture, Chinese styles mediated via Korea. The 7th-century [[Hōryū-ji]] and its contents have survived more intact than any East Asian Buddhist temple of its date, with works including a ''Shaka Trinity'' of 623 in bronze, showing the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas and also the [[Four Heavenly Kings|Guardian Kings of the Four Directions]].<ref>Paine & Soper, 30–31.</ref>

[[Jōchō]] is said to be one of the greatest Buddhist sculptors not only in [[Heian period]] but also in the history of Buddhist statues in Japan. Jōchō redefined the body shape of Buddha statues by perfecting the technique of "yosegi zukuri" (寄木造り) which is a combination of several woods. The peaceful expression and graceful figure of the Buddha statue that he made completed a Japanese style of sculpture of Buddha statues called "Jōchō yō" (Jōchō style, 定朝様) and determined the style of Japanese Buddhist statues of the later period. His achievement dramatically raised the social status of ''[[busshi]]'' (Buddhist sculptor) in Japan.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210321090221/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%9A%E6%9C%9D-79529 Kotobank, Jōchō.] [[The Asahi Shimbun]].</ref>

In the [[Kamakura period]], the [[Minamoto clan]] established the [[Kamakura shogunate]]  and the [[samurai]] class virtually ruled Japan for the first time. Jocho's successors, sculptors of the [[Kei school]] of Buddhist statues, created realistic and dynamic statues to suit the tastes of samurai, and Japanese Buddhist sculpture reached its peak. [[Unkei]], [[Kaikei]], and [[Tankei]] were famous, and they made many new Buddha statues at many temples such as [[Kofuku-ji]], where many Buddha statues had been lost in wars and fires.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200703173413/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%85%B6%E6%B4%BE-59106 Kotobank, Kei school.] The Asahi Shimbun.</ref>

Almost all subsequent significant large sculpture in Japan was Buddhist, with some [[Shinto]] equivalents, and after Buddhism declined in Japan in the 15th century, monumental sculpture became largely architectural decoration and less significant.<ref>Paine & Soper, 121.</ref>  However sculptural work in the decorative arts was developed to a remarkable level of technical achievement and refinement in small objects such as [[inro]] and [[netsuke]] in many materials, and metal ''{{lang|ja|tosogu}}'' or [[Japanese sword mountings]]. In the 19th century there were export industries of small bronze sculptures of extreme virtuosity, ivory and porcelain figurines, and other types of small sculpture, increasingly emphasizing technical accomplishment.

<gallery widths="185px" heights="200px">
File:Clevelandart 1984.68.jpg|'Flame-style' vessel, Neolithic [[Jōmon period]]; {{Circa|2750 BCE}}; earthenware with carved and applied decoration; height: 61&nbsp;cm, diameter: 55.8&nbsp;cm
File:Dogu Miyagi 1000 BCE 400 BCE.jpg|[[Dogū]] with "snow-goggle" eyes, 1000–400 BCE
File:Arte giapponese, nobile haniwa, VI sec.JPG|6th-century [[haniwa]] figure
File:Horyu-ji14s3200.jpg|Kongo Rishiki (Guardian Deity) at the Central Gate of [[Hōryū-ji]]
File:Taishakuten Śakra, Tō-ji.jpg|Taishakuten [[Śakra (Buddhism)|Śakra]], 839, [[Tō-ji]]
File:Kofukuji Hokuendo Muchaku Unkei.jpg|Muchaku by [[Unkei]], 1212, [[Kōfuku-ji]], National Treasure
File:Tsuchiya Yasuchika - Tsuba with a Rabbit Viewing the Autumn Moon - Walters 51163.jpg|[[Tsuba]] sword fitting with a "Rabbit Viewing the Autumn Moon", bronze, gold and silver, between 1670 and 1744
File:Izumiya Tomotada - Netsuke in the Form of a Dog - Walters 711020 - Three Quarter.jpg|Izumiya Tomotada, [[netsuke]] in the form of a dog, late 18th century
File:Eagle, By Suzuki Chokichi Suzuki 鈴木長吉「鷲置物」.jpg|Eagle by Suzuki Chokichi, 1892, [[Tokyo National Museum]]
</gallery>

==== Indian subcontinent ====
{{see also|Sculpture in South Asia|List of rock-cut temples in India|Sculpture of Bangladesh}}
[[File:Met, india (uttar pradesh), gupta period, krishna battling the horse demon keshi, 5th century.JPG|thumb|Hindu [[Gupta art|Gupta]] [[terracotta]] relief, 5th century CE, of [[Krishna]] Killing the Horse Demon [[Keshi (demon)|Keshi]]]]
The first known [[sculpture in the Indian subcontinent]] is from the [[Indus Valley civilization]] (3300–1700 BCE), found in sites at [[Mohenjo-daro]] and [[Harappa]] in modern-day [[Pakistan]]. These include the famous [[Dancing Girl (prehistoric sculpture)|small bronze female dancer]] and the so-called [[Priest-king (sculpture)|''Priest-king'']].  However, such figures in bronze and stone are rare and greatly outnumbered by pottery figurines and stone seals, often of animals or deities very finely depicted. After the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization there is little record of sculpture until the Buddhist era, apart from a hoard of copper figures of (somewhat controversially) {{Circa|1500 BCE}} from [[Daimabad]].<ref>Harle, 17–20.</ref>  Thus the great tradition of Indian monumental sculpture in stone appears to begin, relative to other cultures, and the development of Indian civilization, relatively late, with the reign of [[Asoka]] from 270 to 232 BCE, and the [[Pillars of Ashoka]] he erected around India, carrying his edicts and topped by famous sculptures of animals, mostly lions, of which six survive.<ref>Harle, 22–24.</ref>  Large amounts of figurative sculpture, mostly in relief, survive from Early Buddhist pilgrimage stupas, above all [[Sanchi]]; these probably developed out of a tradition using wood that also embraced [[Hinduism]].<ref name="Harle, 26–38">Harle, 26–38.</ref>

The pink sandstone Hindu, [[Jain]] and Buddhist sculptures of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE reflected both native Indian traditions and the Western influences received through the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and effectively established the basis for subsequent Indian religious sculpture.<ref name="Harle, 26–38"/>  The style was developed and diffused through most of India under the [[Gupta Empire]] ({{Circa|320}}–550) which remains a [[Gupta art|"classical" period for Indian sculpture]], covering the earlier [[Ellora Caves]],<ref>Harle, 87; his Part 2 covers the period.</ref> though the [[Elephanta Caves]] are probably slightly later.<ref>Harle, 124.</ref>  Later large-scale sculpture remains almost exclusively religious, and generally rather conservative, often reverting to simple frontal standing poses for deities, though the attendant spirits such as apsaras and [[yakshi]] often have sensuously curving poses. Carving is often highly detailed, with an intricate backing behind the main figure in high relief. The celebrated bronzes of the [[Chola]] dynasty ({{Circa|850}}–1250) from south India, many designed to be carried in processions, include the iconic form of [[Shiva]] as [[Nataraja]],<ref>Harle, 301–10, 325–27</ref> with the massive granite carvings of [[Mahabalipuram]] dating from the previous [[Pallava dynasty]].<ref>Harle, 276–84.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro.jpg|The "[[Dancing Girl (prehistoric sculpture)|Dancing Girl]]" of [[Mohenjo-daro]], 3rd or 2nd millennium BCE (replica)
File:Asokanpillar-crop.jpg|[[Pillars of Ashoka|Ashoka Pillar]], [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaishali]], [[Bihar]], {{Circa|250 BCE}}
File:Didarganj_Yakshi_statue_in_the_Bihar_Museum.jpg|''[[Didarganj Yakshi]]''. Uncertain date, but it has the fine Mauryan polish associated with [[Mauryan art]]
File:Column, Sanchi.jpg|[[Stupa]] gateway at [[Sanchi]], {{Circa|100 CE}} or perhaps earlier, with densely packed reliefs
File:Buddha from Sarnath.jpg|Buddha from [[Sarnath]], 5th–6th century CE
File:Elephanta Caves Trimurti.jpg|The Colossal [[Sadashiva|trimurti]] at the [[Elephanta Caves]]
File:Ellora cave16 001.jpg|Rock-cut temples at [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]]
File:Shrine with Four Jinas (Rishabhanatha (Adinatha)), Parshvanatha, Neminatha, and Mahavira) LACMA M.85.55 (1 of 4).jpg|[[Jain]] shrine with [[Rishabhanatha]], [[Parshvanatha]], [[Neminatha]], and [[Mahavira]], 6th century
File:NatarajaMET.JPG|Hindu, [[Chola]] period, 1000
File:The Hindu deity Vishnu - Indian Art - Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.jpg|Typical medieval frontal standing statue of [[Vishnu]], 950–1150
File:Khajuraho8.jpg|[[Khajuraho Group of Monuments|Khajuraho]] Temple
File:WLA lacma Celestial Nymph ca 1450 Rajasthan.jpg|Marble Sculpture of female [[yakshi]] in typical curving pose, {{circa|1450}}, [[Rajasthan]]
File:Natarajartemple1.jpg|[[Gopuram]] of the [[Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram]], [[Tamil Nadu]], densely packed with rows of painted statues
File:ജലഗന്ധേശ്വരർ ക്ഷേത്രത്തിലെ ദ്വാരപാലകശില്പം.JPG|Sculpture of Guardian at the entrance of the Mandapam of Sri Jalagandeeswarar Temple, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
</gallery>

====South-East Asia====
[[File:Linteau Musée Guimet 1097 01.jpg|thumb|9th-century Khmer [[lintel]]]]
The sculpture of the region tends to be characterised by a high degree of ornamentation, as seen in the great monuments of Hindu and Buddhist [[Khmer sculpture]] (9th to 13th centuries) at [[Angkor Wat]] and elsewhere, the enormous 9th-century Buddhist complex at [[Borobudur]] in [[Java]], and the Hindu monuments of [[Bali]].<ref>Honour & Fleming, 196–200.</ref> Both of these include many reliefs as well as figures in the round; Borobudur has 2,672 relief panels, 504 Buddha statues, many semi-concealed in openwork [[stupa]]s, and many large guardian figures.

In Thailand and Laos, sculpture was mainly of [[Iconography of Gautama Buddha in Laos and Thailand|Buddha images]], often gilded, both large for temples and monasteries, and small figurines for private homes. Traditional sculpture in [[Myanmar]] emerged before the [[Pagan Kingdom|Bagan period]]. As elsewhere in the region, most of the wood sculptures of the Bagan and Ava periods have been lost.

Traditional [[Philippine mythology|Anitist]] sculptures from the Philippines are dominated by Anitist designs mirroring the medium used and the culture involved, while being highlighted by the environments where such sculptures are usually placed on. Christian and Islamic sculptures from the Philippines have different motifs compared to other Christian and Islamic sculptures elsewhere. In later periods Chinese influence predominated in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and more wooden sculpture survives from across the region.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
<!-- ENOUGH HERE, or too many - please raise any desired changes on talk first -->
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Reliëf op de Borobudur TMnr 20025652.jpg|Relief sculpture from [[Borobudur]] temple, [[Indonesia]], {{Circa|760}}–830
File:Borobudur - Buddha Statue - 035 Dhyana Mudra, Amitabha (11679385166).jpg|[[Vairocana]] [[Buddha]] from [[Borobudur]] temple, Indonesia, {{Circa|760}}–830
File:Mindanao Burial Pottery - 32843892691.jpg|One of the [[Philippine mythology|Anitist]] [[Maitum anthropomorphic pottery]] from Sarangani, Philippines {{Circa|5 BC}}-370 AD
File: Bodhisattava Avalokiteshvara, Chaiya Art พระอวโลกิเตศวรโพธิสัตว์ ศิลปะไชยา 01.jpg |Bronze [[Avalokiteshvara of Chaiya]] torso from [[Chaiya]], [[Southern Thailand]], [[Srivijaya]]n art, {{Circa|8th century}}
File:Muzium Negara KL67.JPG|Bronze [[Avalokiteshvara]] from Bidor, Perak, [[Malaysia]], {{Circa|8th}}-9th century
File:Filippine, provincia di agusan, immagine hindu, statuetta in oro massiccio, xiii secolo.jpg|The [[Philippine mythology|Anitist]] [[Agusan image]] from Agusan del Sur, Philippines, 9th-10th century
File:Cambogia, visnu, dintorni di prasat rup arak, stile din kulen, 800-875 ca. 02.JPG|[[Vishnu]] from Prasat Rup Arak, Kulen, [[Khmer art]], [[Cambodia]], {{Circa|800}}–875
File:Mindanao Bangsamoro Islamic Art - 24556378753.jpg|An [[Philippine mythology|Anitist]] [[sarimanok]] sculpture from Lanao, Philippines
File:Jayavarman VII Guimet 90508 2.jpg|Head of [[Jayavarman VII]], Khmer art, Cambodia, {{circa|late 12th century}}
File:Ananda Temple - Bagan, Myanmar 20130209-03.jpg|Buddha in [[Ananda Temple]], [[Bagan]], [[Myanmar]], {{circa|1105}}
File:Fronton Guimet 240907 3.jpg|Stone bas-relief of [[apsara]]s from [[Bayon]] temple, Cambodia, {{circa|1200}}
File:Prajnaparamita Java Side Detail.JPG|[[Prajnaparamita]] [[Singhasari]] art, [[East Java]], Indonesia, {{circa|13th century}}
File:Buraq sculpture from Mindanao Philippines.jpg|An Islamic sculpture of a [[buraq]], southern Philippines
File:Wat Si Chum in Sukhothai.jpg|Phra Achana, Wat Si Chum, Big Buddha image in [[Sukhothai (city)|Sukhothai]], Thailand, {{circa|14th century}}
File:Buddhaimage7.JPG|"the Buddha calling the earth to witness", The Buddha's hands are in the ''bhūmisparsa mudrā'' (subduing Māra) position. Ho Phra Kaeo temple, [[Vientiane]], Laos
</gallery>

===Islam===
[[File:Panel hunters Louvre OA 6265-1.jpg|thumb|Ivory with traces of paint, 11th–12th century, Egypt]]
[[Islam]] is [[Aniconism in Islam|famously aniconic]], so the vast majority of sculpture is [[Arabesque (Islamic art)|arabesque]] decoration in relief or openwork, based on vegetable motifs, but tending to geometrical abstract forms. In the very early [[Mshatta Facade]] (740s), now mostly in [[Berlin]], there are animals within the dense arabesques in high relief, and figures of animals and men in mostly low relief are found in conjunction with decoration on many later pieces in various materials, including metalwork, ivory and ceramics.<ref>Piotrovsky and Rogers, 23, 26–27, 33–37.</ref>

Figures of animals in the round were often acceptable for works used in private contexts if the object was clearly practical, so medieval Islamic art contains many metal animals that are [[aquamanile]]s, [[incense]] burners or supporters for fountains, as in the stone lions supporting the famous one in the [[Alhambra]], culminating in the largest medieval Islamic animal figure known, the [[Pisa Griffin]]. In the same way, luxury [[hardstone carving]]s such as dagger hilts and cups may be formed as animals, especially in [[Mughal art]]. The degree of acceptability of such relaxations of strict Islamic rules varies between periods and regions, with [[Islamic Spain]], Persia and India often leading relaxation, and is typically highest in courtly contexts.<ref>Piotrovsky and Rogers, 23, 33–37.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Mschatta-Fassade (Pergamonmuseum).jpg|The [[Mshatta Facade]], from a palace near [[Damascus]], 740s
File:Arte islamica, ippogrifo, XI sec 02.JPG|The [[Pisa Griffin]], 107&nbsp;cm high, probably 11th century
File:Turquoise epigraphic ornament MBA Lyon A1969-333.jpg|Part of a 15th-century ceramic panel from [[Samarkand]] with white calligraphy on a blue [[Arabesque (Islamic art)|arabesque]] background.
File:Dagger horse head Louvre OA7891.jpg|[[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] dagger with hilt in [[jade]], gold, [[rubies]] and [[emerald]]s. Blade of [[damascened]] steel inlaid with gold.
</gallery>

===Africa===
[[File:Masque blanc Punu-Gabon.jpg|thumb|Mask from [[Gabon]]]]
[[File:Chiwara Chicago sculpture.jpg|thumb|Two [[Chiwara]] {{circa|late 19th}} early 20th centuries, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]. Female (left) and male Vertical styles]]
Historically, with the exception of some monumental Egyptian sculpture, most African sculpture was created in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than a few centuries ago; older pottery figures are found from a number of areas. [[Traditional African masks|Masks]] are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized. There is a vast variety of styles, often varying within the same context of origin depending on the use of the object, but wide regional trends are apparent; sculpture is most common among "groups of settled cultivators in the areas drained by the [[Niger]] and [[Congo River|Congo]] rivers" in West Africa.<ref name="Honour & Fleming, 557">Honour & Fleming, 557.</ref>  Direct images of deities are relatively infrequent, but masks in particular are or were often made for religious ceremonies; today many are made for tourists as "airport art".<ref>Honour & Fleming, 559–61.</ref>  African masks were an influence on European [[Modernism|Modernist]] art, which was inspired by their lack of concern for naturalistic depiction.

The [[Nubia]]n [[Kingdom of Kush]] in modern Sudan was in close and often hostile contact with Egypt, and produced monumental sculpture mostly derivative of styles to the north. In West Africa, the earliest known sculptures are from the [[Nok culture]] which thrived between 500 BCE and 500 CE in modern Nigeria, with clay figures typically with elongated bodies and angular shapes. Later West African cultures developed bronze casting for reliefs to decorate palaces like the famous [[Benin Bronzes]], and very fine naturalistic royal heads from around the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] town of [[Ife]] in terracotta and metal from the 12th–14th centuries. [[Akan goldweights]] are a form of small metal sculptures produced over the period 1400–1900, some apparently representing [[proverb]]s and so with a narrative element rare in African sculpture, and royal regalia included impressive gold sculptured elements.<ref>Honour & Fleming, 556–61.</ref>

Many West African figures are used in religious rituals and are often coated with materials placed on them for ceremonial offerings. The [[Mandé peoples|Mande]]-speaking peoples of the same region make pieces of wood with broad, flat surfaces and arms and legs are shaped like cylinders. In Central Africa, however, the main distinguishing characteristics include heart-shaped faces that are curved inward and display patterns of circles and dots.

Populations in the [[African Great Lakes]] are not known for their sculpture.<ref name="Honour & Fleming, 557"/> However, one style from the region is pole sculptures, carved in human shapes and decorated with geometric forms, while the tops are carved with figures of animals, people, and various objects. These poles are, then, placed next to graves and are associated with death and the ancestral world. The culture known from [[Great Zimbabwe]] left more impressive buildings than sculpture but the eight [[soapstone]] [[Zimbabwe Bird]]s appear to have had a special significance and were mounted on [[monolith]]s. Modern Zimbabwean sculptors in soapstone have achieved [[Sculpture of Zimbabwe|considerable international success]]. Southern Africa's oldest known clay figures date from 400 to 600 CE and have cylindrical heads with a mixture of human and animal features.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Nok sculpture Louvre 70-1998-11-1.jpg|[[Nok Culture|Nok]] terracotta, 6th century BCE–6th century CE
File:Ife sculpture Inv.A96-1-4.jpg|[[Ife]] head, [[terracotta]], probably 12–14th centuries CE
File:Yoruba-bronze-head.jpg|[[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] bronze head sculpture, [[Ife]], Nigeria {{circa|12th century}}
File:Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 29.JPG|Sculpture of a 'Queen Mother' from Benin, 16th century.
File:Queen Mother Pendant Mask- Iyoba MET DP231460.jpg|16th-century ivory mask from Benin
File:Benin kingdom Louvre A97-4-1.jpg|One of the [[Benin Bronzes]], 16th–18th century, Nigeria.
File:Masque probablement Bobo-Burkina Faso (2).jpg|Mask from [[Burkina Faso]], 19th century
File:Statuette Mambia Nigéria.jpg|[[Mambila]] figure, Nigeria
</gallery>

====Ethiopia and Eritrea====
{{further|Ethiopian art|Lalibela Cross}}
The creation of sculptures in Ethiopia and [[Eritrea]] can be traced back to its ancient past with the kingdoms of [[Dʿmt]] and [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksum]]. [[Christian art]] was established in Ethiopia with the conversion from [[Traditional African religions|paganism]] to [[Religion in Ethiopia|Christianity]] in the 4th century CE, during the reign of king [[Ezana of Axum]].<ref>De Lorenzi (2015), pp. 15–16.</ref> Christian imagery decorated churches during the Asksumite period and later eras.<ref>Briggs (2015), p. 242.</ref> For instance, at [[Lalibela]], life-size [[Christian saints|saints]] were carved into the Church of Bet Golgotha; by tradition these were made during the reign of the [[Zagwe dynasty|Zagwe]] ruler [[Gebre Mesqel Lalibela]] in the 12th century, but they were more likely crafted in the 15th century during the [[Solomonic dynasty]].<ref name="briggs 2015 p331">Briggs (2015), p. 331.</ref> However, the [[Church of Saint George, Lalibela]], one of several examples of [[rock cut architecture]] at Lalibela containing intricate carvings, was built in the 10th–13th centuries as proven by archaeology.<ref name="sobania 2012 p.462">Sobania (2012), p. 462.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Ancient Figurine, National Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2130296832).jpg|Stone statue from [[Addi-Galamo]], [[Tigray Province]], 6th–5th century BCE
File:Axumite Jar Spout (2822628227).jpg|A jar spout from the early [[Kingdom of Aksum]]
File:ET Axum asv2018-01 img37 Stelae Park.jpg|The [[Obelisk of Axum]], 4th century CE
File:Ethiopian - Processional Cross - Walters 542889.jpg|A [[processional cross]], [[Zagwe dynasty]], 12th century
File:Bet Golgotha.jpg|One of the seven life-size [[Christian saints|saints]] carved into the wall of the Church of Bet Golgotha, [[Lalibela]], 15th century (traditionally believed to have been made during the reign of [[Gebre Mesqel Lalibela]])<ref name="briggs 2015 p331"/>
</gallery>

====Sudan====
{{further|Nubian pyramids}}
In [[History of Sudan|ancient Sudan]], the development of sculpture stretches from the simple pottery of the [[Kerma culture]] beginning around 2500 BCE to the monumental statuary and architecture of the [[Meroitic Empire|Kingdom of Kush]], its last phase—the [[Meroitic period]]—ending around 350 CE (with its conquest by Ethiopia's Aksum).<ref name="harkless 2006 174">Harkless (2006), p. 174.</ref><ref>"[https://www.mfa.org/collections/ancient-world/tour/nubian-art Nubian Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528215532/https://www.mfa.org/collections/ancient-world/tour/nubian-art |date=2018-05-28 }}". [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]. Accessed 28 May 2018.</ref> Beyond pottery items, the Kerma culture also made furniture that contained sculptures, such as gold cattle hoofs as the legs of beds.<ref name="harkless 2006 174"/> Sculpture during the Kingdom of Kush included full-sized statues (especially of kings and queens), smaller figurines (most commonly depicting royal servants), and reliefs in stone, which were influenced by the contemporary ancient Egyptian sculptural tradition.<ref>Harkless (2006), pp. 174–75.</ref><ref>March 2011. "[http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/nubia/highlights.html Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619180717/http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/nubia/highlights.html |date=2018-06-19 }}". [[Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]] (New York University). Accessed May 28, 2018.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Dipper National Museum Sudan.jpg|A ceramic jug of the [[Kerma culture]]
File:Shabti of King Taharqa.jpg|A [[shabti]] of the [[Nubia]]n King [[Taharqa]], from a [[Nubian pyramids|pyramid]] of [[Nuri]], Sudan, [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]], 690–664 BCE
File:Anlamani-Statue-CloseUpOfHead MuseumOfFineArtsBoston.png|Statue of the [[Kushite]] Pharaoh [[Aspelta]], [[Napata]] period (c. 620–580 BCE)
File:Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe-114985.jpg|Column and elephant - part of the temple complex in [[Musawwarat es-Sufra]], 3rd century BCE
File:Prince Arikankharer Slaying His Enemies, Meroitic, beginning of first century AD, sandstone - Worcester Art Museum - IMG 7535.JPG|Traces of paint on a relief depicting Prince [[Arikhankharer]] smiting his enemies, from the [[Meroitic period]] of the [[Kingdom of Kush]], early 1st century CE
File:Amanitore bust.jpg|Relief of a ruler, a [[Candace of Meroë]] named [[Amanitore|Kandake Amanitore]], 1st century CE
</gallery>

===The Americas===
{{see also|Sculpture of the United States|Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas|Pre-Columbian art|Northwest Coast art|Inuit art}}
Sculpture in present-day [[Latin America]] developed in two separate and distinct areas, [[Mesoamerica]] in the north and [[Peru]] in the south. In both areas, sculpture was initially of stone, and later of [[terracotta]] and metal as the civilizations in these areas became more technologically proficient.<ref>Castedo, Leopoldo, ''A History of Latin American Art and architecture'', New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publisher, 1969.</ref> The [[Mesoamerican region]] produced more monumental sculpture, from the massive block-like works of the [[Olmec]] and [[Toltec]] cultures, to the superb low [[relief]]s that characterize the [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] and [[Aztec]] cultures. In the Andean region, sculptures were typically small, but often show superb skill.

====Pre-Columbian====
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:WLA metmuseum Olmec Baby Figure.jpg|[[Olmec]] Baby Figure 1200-900 BCE
File:WLA metmuseum Olmec Jadeite Mask 3.jpg|Olmec Jadeite Mask 1000–600 BCE
File:San Lorenzo Monument 3.jpg|[[Olmec colossal heads|Olmec Colossal Head]] No. 3 1200–900 BCE
File:Harvestermountainlord.jpg|[[La Mojarra Stela 1]] 2nd century CE
File:Teotihuacán - Chalchiuhtlicue.jpg|Chalchiuhtlicue from Teotihuacán 200–500 CE
File:Teotihuacan mask Branly 70-1999-12-1.jpg|[[Teotihuacan]] mask 200–600 CE
File:Teotihuacan-Temple of the Feathered Serpent-3035.jpg|Teotihuacan- Detail of the Temple of the [[Feathered Serpent]] 200–250 CE
File:Funerary Urn from Oaxaca.jpg|A [[funerary art|funerary urn]] in the shape of a "bat god" or a jaguar, [[Oaxaca]], 300–650 CE
File:Moche portrait ceramic Quai Branly 71.1930.19.162 n2.jpg|[[Moche portrait vessel]] with [[Stirrup spout vessel|stirrup spout]], Peru, 100 BCE–700 CE
File:K'inich Janaab Pakal I.jpg|[[K'inich Janaab Pakal I]] of [[Palenque]], Maya, 603–683 CE
File:Ahkal Mo' Naab III.jpg|Ahkal Mo' Naab III Of Palenque, 8th century CE
File:Palenque Relief.jpg|Upakal K'inich 8th century CE, Palenque
File:Jaina Island type figure, Art Institute.jpg|[[Jaina Island]] type figure (Mayan) 650–800 CE
File:Remojadas - Lachendes Gesicht 1.jpg|[[Classic Veracruz culture]] face 600–900 CE
File:Atlante-Tollan-Xicocotitlan-Hidalgo Mexico.JPG|Atlante from [[Tula (Mesoamerican site)|Tula]], {{Circa|1000 CE}}
File:Double Headed Turquoise Serpent.jpg|''[[Double-headed serpent]]'', [[Turquoise]], red and white mosaic on wood, [[Aztec]] (possibly) [[Mixtec]], {{Circa|1400}}–1521,
</gallery>

====North America====
{{anchor|North America}}
[[File:St James -Cristo del Rey.jpg|thumb|[[James, son of Zebedee|St. James]] panel, from [[reredos]] in Cristo Rey Church, [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]], {{circa|1760}}]]
[[File:Degas-dancer.jpg|thumb|[[Edgar Degas]], ''[[La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans|Little Dancer of Fourteen Years]]'', cast in 1922 from a [[mixed-media]] sculpture modeled {{circa|1879}}–80, Bronze, partly tinted, with cotton]]
In [[North America]], wood was sculpted for [[totem poles]], masks, utensils, [[War canoe]]s and a variety of other uses, with distinct variation between different cultures and regions. The most developed styles are those of the [[Northwest Coast art|Pacific Northwest Coast]], where a group of elaborate and highly stylized formal styles developed forming the basis of a tradition that continues today. In addition to the famous totem poles, painted and carved [[longhouse|house fronts]] were complemented by carved posts inside and out, as well as mortuary figures and other items. Among the [[Inuit]] of the far north, traditional carving styles in ivory and soapstone are still continued.<ref>Honour & Fleming, 553–56.</ref>

The arrival of European Catholic culture readily adapted local skills to the prevailing [[Baroque]] style, producing enormously elaborate [[retablo]]s and other mostly church sculptures in a variety of hybrid styles.<ref>Neumeyer, Alfred, ''The Indian Contribution to Architectural Decoration in Spanish Colonial America''. ''The Art Bulletin'', June 1948, Volume XXX, Number two.</ref> The most famous of such examples in Canada is the altar area of the [[Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal)|Notre Dame Basilica]] in Montreal, Quebec, which was carved by peasant ''[[habitant]]'' labourers. Later, artists trained in the Western academic tradition followed European styles until in the late 19th century they began to draw again on indigenous influences, notably in the Mexican baroque grotesque style known as [[Churrigueresque]]. Aboriginal peoples also adapted church sculpture in variations on [[Carpenter Gothic]]; one famous example is the ''Church of the Holy Cross'' in [[Skookumchuck Hot Springs, British Columbia]].

The history of [[Sculpture of the United States|sculpture in the United States]] after Europeans' arrival reflects the country's 18th-century foundation in [[Roman empire|Roman]] republican civic values and [[Protestantism|Protestant Christianity]]. Compared to areas colonized by the Spanish, sculpture got off to an extremely slow start in the British colonies, with next to no place in churches, and was only given impetus by the need to assert nationality after independence. American sculpture of the mid- to late-19th century was often classical, often romantic, but showed a bent for a dramatic, narrative, almost journalistic realism. Public buildings during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century often provided an architectural setting for sculpture, especially in relief. By the 1930s the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] of architecture and design and [[art deco]] characterized by the work of [[Paul Manship]] and [[Lee Lawrie]] and others became popular. By the 1950s, traditional sculpture education would almost be completely replaced by a [[Bauhaus]]-influenced concern for [[Abstract art|abstract]] design. [[Minimalist]] sculpture replaced the figure in public settings and architects almost completely stopped using sculpture in or on their designs. Modern sculptors (21st century) use both classical and abstract inspired designs. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a swing back toward figurative public sculpture; by 2000, many of the new public pieces in the United States were figurative in design.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Mount Rushmore Closeup 2017.jpg|[[Gutzon Borglum]] and his son, [[Lincoln Borglum]], ''[[Mount Rushmore]]'', 1927–1941. L–R, [[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and [[Abraham Lincoln]].
File:Robert Gould Shaw Memorial - detail.jpg|[[Robert Gould Shaw Memorial]] by [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]], 1884–1897, plaster version
File:Beaumont Tower - Lee Lawrie, sculptor.jpg|[[Lee Lawrie]], ''The Sower'', 1928 [[Art Deco]] relief on [[Beaumont Tower]], [[Michigan State University]]
File:Lincoln statue, Lincoln Memorial.jpg|[[Daniel Chester French]], ''[[Abraham Lincoln (French 1920)|Abraham Lincoln]]'' (1920) in the [[Lincoln Memorial]], [[Washington, D.C.]]
File:Tlingit K'alyaan Totem Pole August 2005.jpg|The ''K'alyaan'' Totem Pole of the [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] Kiks.ádi Clan, erected at [[Sitka National Historical Park]] to commemorate the lives lost in the 1804 [[Battle of Sitka]]
File:The Broncho Buster MET DP361132.jpg|[[Frederic Remington]], ''[[The Bronco Buster]]'', 1895, cast 1918. Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Dancer and Gazelles - Manship.jpg|[[Paul Manship]], ''Dancer and Gazelles'', 1916, [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]], Washington, DC
File:The Scout by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.jpg|[[Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney]], ''[[Buffalo Bill - The Scout (statue)|Buffalo Bill - The Scout]]'', 1924, commemorating [[Buffalo Bill]] in [[Cody, Wyoming]]
</gallery>

==Moving toward modern art==
=== 19th–early 20th century, early Modernism and continuing realism ===
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Jeanne d'Arc François Rude.jpg|[[François Rude]], a [[Romanticism|Romantic]] ''[[Jeanne d' Arc]]'', 1852, [[Louvre]]
File:Ugolino and His Sons MET DP247545.jpg|[[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]], ''[[Ugolino and His Sons (Carpeaux)|Ugolino and His Sons]]'', 1857–1860, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Per Hasselberg Snöklockan Rottneros Park.jpg|[[Per Hasselberg]], ''[[Snowdrop (sculpture)|Snöklockan]]'' ([[snowdrop]]), Paris 1881. Copy from 1953 in bronze by C & A Nicci (Rome/Italy) placed in Rottneros Park near [[Sunne, Sweden|Sunne]] in [[Värmland]]/[[Sweden]].
File:Auguste Rodin-Burghers of Calais (photo).jpg|[[Auguste Rodin]] ''[[The Burghers of Calais]]'' 1889, [[Calais]], [[France]]
File:Eros@Piccadilly.jpg|[[Alfred Gilbert]], the so-called ''[[Piccadilly Circus#Shaftesbury Memorial and Eros|Eros]]'', 1893, the world's first [[aluminium]] statue, [[Piccadilly Circus]], [[London]]
File:Paul Gauguin, 1894, Oviri (Sauvage), partially glazed stoneware, 75 x 19 x 27 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.jpg|[[Paul Gauguin]], 1894, ''[[Oviri]] (Sauvage)'', partially glazed stoneware, 75 x 19 x 27&nbsp;cm, [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris
File:Jardín Musée Rodin Pensador 01.JPG|[[Auguste Rodin]], ''[[The Thinker]]'', 1902, [[Musée Rodin]], Paris
File:Le Jour et la Nuit par Antoine Bourdelle.JPG|[[Antoine Bourdelle]], ''Day and Night'', marble, 1903, [[Musée Bourdelle]], Paris
File:La Valse.jpg|[[Camille Claudel]], ''[[The Waltz (Claudel)|The Waltz]]'', 1905 cast of the second version
File:Jan Štursa - Před koupelí.jpg|[[Jan Štursa]], ''Before the Bath,'' 1906, [[National Gallery in Prague]]
File:La Nuit by Aristide Maillol, Paris November 2011 001.jpg|[[Aristide Maillol]], ''The Night (La Nuit)'' 1909, [[Tuileries Garden]], Paris
File:La-Pensee.jpg|Robert Wlérick, ''The Thought'' 1933, [[Morez]]
</gallery>

Modern classicism contrasted in many ways with the classical sculpture of the 19th century which was characterized by commitments to naturalism ([[Antoine-Louis Barye]])—the melodramatic ([[François Rude]]) sentimentality ([[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]])—or a kind of stately grandiosity ([[Lord Leighton]]). Several different directions in the classical tradition were taken as the century turned, but the study of the live model and the post-Renaissance tradition was still fundamental to them.
[[Auguste Rodin]] was the most renowned European sculptor of the early 20th century.<ref>Elsen, Albert E. (2003). ''Rodin's Art: The Rodin Collection of the Iris & Gerald B. Cantor Center for the Visual Arts''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-513381-1}}.</ref><ref>[http://www.psmuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming_exhibition_new.php ''Rodin to Now: Modern Sculpture''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825153524/http://www.psmuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming_exhibition_new.php |date=2012-08-25 }}, Palm Springs Desert Museum.</ref> He is often considered a sculptural [[Impressionist]], as are his students including [[Camille Claudel]], and [[Hugo Rheinhold]], attempting to model of a fleeting moment of ordinary life.
Modern classicism showed a lesser interest in naturalism and a greater interest in formal stylization. Greater attention was paid to the rhythms of volumes and spaces—as well as greater attention to the contrasting qualities of surface (open, closed, planar, broken etc.) while less attention was paid to story-telling and convincing details of anatomy or costume. Greater attention was given to psychological effect than to physical realism, and influences from earlier styles worldwide were used.

Early masters of modern classicism included: [[Aristide Maillol]], [[Alexander Matveyev]], [[Joseph Bernard (sculptor)|Joseph Bernard]], [[Antoine Bourdelle]], [[Georg Kolbe]], [[Libero Andreotti]], [[Gustav Vigeland]], [[Jan Stursa]], [[Constantin Brâncuși]]. As the century progressed, modern classicism was adopted as the national style of the two great European totalitarian empires: [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Russia]], who co-opted the work of earlier artists such as Kolbe and [[Wilhelm Lehmbruck]] in Germany<ref>Curtis, Penelpoe, ''Taking Positions: Figurative Sculpture and the Third Reich'', Henry Moore Institute, London, 2002.</ref> and Matveyev in Russia. Over the 70 years of the USSR, new generations of sculptors were trained and chosen within their system, and a distinct style, [[socialist realism]], developed, that returned to the 19th century's emphasis on melodrama and naturalism.

Classical training was rooted out of art education in Western Europe (and the Americas) by 1970 and the classical variants of the 20th century were marginalized in the history of modernism. But classicism continued as the foundation of art education in the Soviet academies until 1990, providing a foundation for expressive figurative art throughout eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East. By 2000, the European classical tradition retains a wide appeal to the public but awaits an educational tradition to revive its contemporary development.

Some of the modern classical became either more decorative/art deco ([[Paul Manship]], [[Jose de Creeft]], [[Carl Milles]]) or more abstractly stylized or more expressive (and Gothic) ([[Anton Hanak]], [[Wilhelm Lehmbruck]], [[Ernst Barlach]], [[Arturo Martini]])—or turned more to the Renaissance ([[Giacomo Manzù]], [[Venanzo Crocetti]]) or stayed the same ([[Charles Despiau]], [[Marcel Gimond]]).

==Modernism==
{{main|Modern sculpture}}
[[File:Gaston lachaise floating figure.jpg|thumb|[[Gaston Lachaise]], ''Floating Figure'' 1927, bronze, no. 5 from an edition of 7, [[National Gallery of Australia]]]]
[[File:HenryMoore RecliningFigure 1951.jpg|thumb|[[Henry Moore]], ''[[Large Reclining Figure]]'', 1984 (based on a smaller model of 1938), [[Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge]]]]
[[File:SMITH CUBI VI.JPG|thumb|[[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]], ''CUBI VI,'' (1963), [[Israel Museum]], [[Jerusalem]]]]
[[Modernist]] sculpture movements include [[Cubist sculpture|Cubism]], [[Geometric abstraction]], [[De Stijl]], [[Suprematism]], [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]], [[Dadaism]], [[Surrealism]], [[Futurism (art)|Futurism]], [[Formalism (art)|Formalism]], [[Abstract expressionism]], [[Pop-Art]], [[Minimalism]], [[Land art]], and [[Installation art]] among others.

In the beginning of the 20th century, [[Pablo Picasso]] revolutionized the art of sculpture when he began creating his constructions fashioned by combining disparate objects and materials into one constructed piece of sculpture; the sculptural equivalent of the [[collage]] in two-dimensional art. The advent of [[Surrealism]] led to things occasionally being described as "sculpture" that would not have been so previously, such as "involuntary sculpture" in several senses, including [[coulage]]. In later years Picasso became a prolific [[pottery|potter]], leading, with interest in historic pottery from around the world, to a revival of [[ceramic art]], with figures such as [[George E. Ohr]] and subsequently [[Peter Voulkos]], [[Kenneth Price]], and [[Robert Arneson]]. [[Marcel Duchamp]] originated the use of the "[[found object]]" (French: objet trouvé) or ''readymade'' with pieces such as ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]]'' (1917).

Similarly, the work of [[Constantin Brâncuși]] at the beginning of the century paved the way for later abstract sculpture. In revolt against the naturalism of Rodin and his late-19th-century contemporaries, Brâncuși distilled subjects down to their essences as illustrated by the elegantly refined forms of his ''[[Bird in Space]]'' series (1924).<ref>''Visual arts in the 20th century'', Author Edward Lucie-Smith, Edition illustrated, Publisher Harry N. Abrams, 1997, Original from the University of Michigan, {{ISBN|978-0-8109-3934-9}}</ref>

Brâncuși's impact, with his vocabulary of reduction and abstraction, is seen throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and exemplified by artists such as [[Gaston Lachaise]], [[Sir Jacob Epstein]], [[Henry Moore]], [[Alberto Giacometti]], [[Joan Miró]], [[Julio González (sculptor)|Julio González]], [[Pablo Serrano]], [[Jacques Lipchitz]]<ref>''The Oxford dictionary of American art and artists'', Author Ann Lee Morgan, Publisher Oxford University Press, 2007, Original from the University of Michigan, {{ISBN|978-0-19-512878-9}}</ref> and by the 1940s abstract sculpture was impacted and expanded by [[Alexander Calder]], [[Len Lye]], [[Jean Tinguely]], and [[Frederick Kiesler]] who were pioneers of [[Kinetic art]].

Modernist sculptors largely missed out on the huge boom in public art resulting from the demand for [[war memorial]]s for the two World Wars, but from the 1950s the public and commissioning bodies became more comfortable with Modernist sculpture and large public commissions both abstract and figurative became common. Picasso was commissioned to make a [[maquette]] for a huge {{convert|50|ft|m|adj=on}}-high public sculpture, the so-called ''[[Chicago Picasso]]'' (1967). His design was ambiguous and somewhat controversial, and what the figure represents is not clear; it could be a bird, a horse, a woman or a totally abstract shape.

During the late 1950s and the 1960s abstract sculptors began experimenting with a wide array of new materials and different approaches to creating their work. Surrealist imagery, anthropomorphic abstraction, new materials and combinations of new energy sources and varied surfaces and objects became characteristic of much new modernist sculpture. Collaborative projects with landscape designers, architects, and landscape architects expanded the outdoor site and contextual integration. Artists such as [[Isamu Noguchi]], [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]], [[Alexander Calder]], [[Jean Tinguely]], [[Richard Lippold]], [[George Rickey]], [[Louise Bourgeois]], [[Philip Pavia]] and [[Louise Nevelson]] came to characterize the look of modern sculpture.

By the 1960s [[Abstract expressionism]], [[Geometric abstraction]] and [[Minimalism]], which reduces sculpture to its most essential and fundamental features, predominated. Some works of the period are: the Cubi works of David Smith, and the welded steel works of [[Sir Anthony Caro]], as well as [[welded sculpture]] by a large variety of sculptors, the large-scale work of [[John Angus Chamberlain|John Chamberlain]], and environmental installation scale works by [[Mark di Suvero]]. Other Minimalists include [[Tony Smith (sculptor)|Tony Smith]], Donald Judd, [[Robert Morris (artist)|Robert Morris]], [[Anne Truitt]], [[Giacomo Benevelli]], [[Arnaldo Pomodoro]], [[Richard Serra]], [[Dan Flavin]], [[Carl Andre]], and [[John Safer]] who added motion and monumentality to the theme of purity of line.<ref>National Air and Space Museum Receives ''Ascent'' Sculpture for display at Udvar-Hazy Center [http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/pressroomreleaseDetail.cfm?releaseID=49]{{dead link|date=May 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

During the 1960s and 1970s figurative sculpture by modernist artists in stylized forms was made by artists such as [[Leonard Baskin]], [[Ernest Trova]], [[George Segal (artist)|George Segal]], [[Marisol Escobar]], [[Paul Thek]], [[Robert Graham (sculptor)|Robert Graham]] in a classic articulated style, and [[Fernando Botero]] bringing his painting's 'oversized figures' into monumental sculptures.

===Gallery of modernist sculpture===
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:André Derain, 1907 (Automne), Nu debout, limestone, 95 x 33 x 17 cm, Musée National d'Art Moderne.jpg|[[André Derain]], ''Nu debout'', 1907, limestone, [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]]
File:Henri Matisse, 1908, Figure décorative, bronze.jpg|[[Henri Matisse]], ''Figure décorative'', 1908, bronze
File:Woman's Head MET DT203051.jpg|[[Amedeo Modigliani]], ''Female Head'', 1911–12, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Joseph Csaky, 1911-1912, Deux Femme (Two Women), plaster lost, photo Galerie René Reichard, Frankfurt, 72dpi.jpg|[[Joseph Csaky]], ''[[Groupe de femmes|Groupe de femmes (Groupe de trois femmes, Groupe de trois personnages)]]'', 1911–12, plaster, lost
File:Alexander Archipenko, La Vie Familiale, Family Life, 1912.jpg|[[Alexander Archipenko]], ''La Vie Familiale'' (''Family Life''), 1912, destroyed
File:Constantin Brancusi, Portrait of Mlle Pogany, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia.jpg|[[Constantin Brâncuși]], ''Portrait of Mademoiselle Pogany'', 1912, white marble; limestone block, [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]. Exhibited at the 1913 [[Armory Show]]
File:Otto Gutfreund (Cellista).jpg|[[Otto Gutfreund]], ''Cellist'', 1912–13
File:Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.jpg|[[Marcel Duchamp]], ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]]'', 1917
File:JacobEpstein DayAndNight.jpg|[[Jacob Epstein]], ''Day and Night'', carved for the [[London Underground]]'s headquarters, 1928.
File:Orzeł ministerstwo infrastruktury.jpg|Mieczysław Kotarbiński, ''Coat of arms of Poland'', basalt relief  in [[Art Deco]] style, Warsaw, 1931.
File:Het treurende ouderpaar - Käthe Kolwitz.JPG|[[Käthe Kollwitz]], ''The Grieving Parents'', 1932, World War I memorial (for her son Peter), [[Vladslo German war cemetery]]
File:Jacques Lipchitz, Birth of the Muses (1944-1950), MIT Campus.JPG|[[Jacques Lipchitz]], ''Birth of the Muses'', 1944–1950
File:Barbara Hepworth monolyth empyrean.jpg|[[Barbara Hepworth]], ''Monolith-Empyrean'', 1953
File:John Chamberlain at the Hirshhorn.jpg|[[John Chamberlain (sculptor)|John Chamberlain]], ''S'', 1959, [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]], [[Washington, DC.]]
File:Moore ThreePieceRecliningFigureNo1 1961.jpg|[[Henry Moore]], ''Three Piece Reclining figure No.1'', 1961, [[Yorkshire]]
File:2004-09-07 1800x2400 chicago picasso.jpg|[[Pablo Picasso]], [[Chicago Picasso]], 1967, Chicago, Illinois
File:George Rickey Ri10.gif|[[George Rickey]], ''Four Squares in Geviert,'' 1969, terrace of the [[New National Gallery]], Berlin, Germany, Rickey is considered a [[Kinetic art|Kinetic sculptor]]
File:Alexander Calder Crinkly avec disc Rouge 1973-1.jpg|[[Alexander Calder]], ''Crinkly avec disc rouge'', 1973, Schlossplatz, [[Stuttgart]]
File:Atmos n Environ XII.JPG|[[Louise Nevelson]], ''Atmosphere and Environment XII'', 1970–1973, [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
File:caro_1974.jpg|[[Sir Anthony Caro]], ''Black Cover Flat'', 1974, steel, [[Tel Aviv Museum of Art]]
File:Dona i Ocell.JPG|[[Joan Miró]], ''[[Dona i Ocell|Woman and Bird]]'', 1982, Barcelona, Spain
File:Spider. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.JPG|[[Louise Bourgeois]], ''[[Maman (sculpture)|Maman]]'', 1999, outside [[Guggenheim Museum Bilbao|Museo Guggenheim]]
</gallery>

===Contemporary movements===
[[File:Umbrella Project1991 10 27.jpg|thumb|[[Christo and Jeanne-Claude]], ''Umbrellas'' 1991, Japan<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/28/us/christo-umbrella-crushes-woman.html| title = NY Times, ''Umbrella Crushes Woman''| newspaper = The New York Times| date = 28 October 1991| access-date = February 18, 2017| archive-date = February 5, 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170205084617/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/28/us/christo-umbrella-crushes-woman.html| url-status = live}}</ref>]]
[[File:20180317 device to root out evil D20 5979.jpg|thumb|''Device to Root Out Evil'' (1997) sculpture by Dennis Oppenheim at <br />[[Palma de Mallorca]], Plaça de la Porta de Santa Catalina]]
[[Site-specific art|Site specific]] and [[environmental art]] works are represented by artists: [[Andy Goldsworthy]], [[Walter De Maria]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Museum%20Piece&page=&f=Title&object=73.2034|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104152454/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Museum%20Piece&page=&f=Title&object=73.2034|url-status=dead|title=Guggenheim museum|archivedate=January 4, 2013}}</ref> [[Richard Long (artist)|Richard Long]], [[Richard Serra]], [[Robert Irwin (artist)|Robert Irwin]],<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.diacenter.org/exhibitions/artistbio/84| title = Dia Foundation| access-date = August 27, 2012| archive-date = July 8, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120708223339/http://diacenter.org/exhibitions/artistbio/84| url-status = live}}</ref> [[George Rickey]] and [[Christo and Jeanne-Claude]] led contemporary abstract sculpture in new directions. Artists created [[environmental sculpture]] on expansive sites in the '[[Land Arts of the American West|land art in the American West]]' group of projects. These [[land art]] or 'earth art' environmental scale sculpture works exemplified by artists such as [[Robert Smithson]], [[Michael Heizer]], [[James Turrell]] ([[Roden Crater]]). [[Eva Hesse]], [[Sol LeWitt]], [[Jackie Winsor]], [[Keith Sonnier]], [[Bruce Nauman]] and [[Dennis Oppenheim]] among others were pioneers of [[Postminimalist]] sculpture.

Also during the 1960s and 1970s artists as diverse as [[Eduardo Paolozzi]], [[Chryssa]], [[Claes Oldenburg]], [[George Segal (artist)|George Segal]], [[Edward Kienholz]], [[Nam June Paik]], [[Wolf Vostell]], [[Duane Hanson]], and [[John DeAndrea]] explored abstraction, imagery and figuration through [[video art]], environment, light sculpture, and [[installation art]] in new ways.

[[Conceptual art]] is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Works include ''[[One and Three Chairs]]'', 1965, is by [[Joseph Kosuth]], and ''[[An Oak Tree]]'' by [[Michael Craig-Martin]], and those of [[Joseph Beuys]], [[James Turrell]] and [[Jacek Tylicki]].

===Minimalism===
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Tonysmith freeride sculpture.jpg|[[Tony Smith (sculptor)|Tony Smith]], ''Free Ride,'' 1962, 6'8 x 6'8 x 6'8 (the height of a standard US door opening), [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York
File:UntitledGoldBox1964.jpg|[[Larry Bell (artist)|Larry Bell]], ''Untitled'' 1964, bismuth, chromium, gold, and rhodium on gold-plated brass; [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]]
File:Judd Muenster.JPG|[[Donald Judd]], ''Untitled'' 1977, [[Münster]], [[Germany]]
File:RichardSerra Fulcrum2.jpg|[[Richard Serra]], ''Fulcrum'' 1987, 55&nbsp;ft high free standing sculpture of [[Cor-ten|Cor-ten steel]] near [[Liverpool Street station]], London
File:DonaldֹJudd IMJ.JPG|[[Donald Judd]], ''Untitled,'' 1991, [[Israel Museum]] Art Garden, Jerusalem
File:The Ideogram WTC Statue detail.jpg|[[James Rosati]], ''[[Ideogram (sculpture)|Ideogram]],'' 1972-2001, [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]. [[New York City]]
</gallery>

====[[Postminimalism]]====
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:South Bank Circle by Richard Long, Tate Liverpool.jpg|[[Richard Long (artist)|Richard Long]], ''South Bank Circle,'' 1991 Tate Liverpool, England
File:Aile Entravée.Jean Yves Lechevallier.jpg|[[Jean-Yves Lechevallier]], ''Fettered wing''. 1991
File:TWUP Jerusalem 190810 1.JPG|[[Anish Kapoor]], ''Turning the World Upside Down'', [[Israel Museum]], 2010
File:Rachel whitereadwien holocaust mahnmal wien judenplatz.jpg|[[Rachel Whiteread]], ''[[Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial]]'', Vienna, 2000
File:Public contemporary-light-art-sculpture-manfred-kielnhofer-illumination.jpg|''Guardians of Time'', [[light sculpture]] by [[Manfred Kielnhofer]] at the [[Light Art Biennale Austria 2010]]
File:The Spire-doyler79.jpg|The [[Spire of Dublin]] officially titled the ''Monument of Light'', stainless steel, {{convert|121.2|m|ft|abbr=off}}, the world's tallest sculpture
</gallery>

====Contemporary genres====
[[File:Spiral-jetty-from-rozel-point.png|thumb|''[[Spiral Jetty]]'' by [[Robert Smithson]], in 2005]]
Some modern sculpture forms are now practiced outdoors, as [[environmental art]] and [[environmental sculpture]], often in full view of spectators. [[Light sculpture]], [[Lock On (street art)|street art sculpture]] and [[site-specific art]] also often make use of the environment. [[Ice sculpture]] is a form of ephemeral sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. It is popular in China, Japan, Canada, Sweden, and Russia. Ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia. [[Kinetic art|Kinetic sculptures]] are sculptures that are designed to move, which include [[Mobile (sculpture)|mobiles]]. [[Snow sculpture]]s are usually carved out of a single block of snow about {{convert|6|to|15|ft|m}} on each side and weighing about 20–30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall. [[Sound sculpture]]s take the form of indoor sound installations, outdoor installations such as aeolian harps, automatons, or be more or less near conventional musical instruments. Sound sculpture is often site-specific. [[Art toys]] have become another format for contemporary artists since the late 1990s, such as those produced by [[Takashi Murakami]] and [[Kid Robot]], designed by [[Michael Lau]], or hand-made by [[Michael Leavitt (artist)]].<ref>"Art Army by Michael Leavitt", '' hypediss.com''[http://www.hypediss.com/art_army_by_michael_leavitt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118102023/http://www.hypediss.com/art_army_by_michael_leavitt|date=2015-11-18}}, December 13, 2006.</ref>

==Conservation==
[[File:Pollution - Damaged by acid rain.jpg|thumb|Visible damage due to [[acid rain]] on a sculpture]]
Sculptures are sensitive to environmental conditions such as [[temperature]], [[humidity]] and exposure to light and [[ultraviolet light]]. [[Acid rain]] can also cause damage to certain building materials and historical monuments. This results when [[sulfuric acid]] in the rain chemically reacts with the calcium compounds in the stones (limestone, sandstone, marble and granite) to create [[gypsum]], which then flakes off. Severe air pollution also causes damage to historical monuments.

At any time many contemporary sculptures have usually been on display in public places; [[theft]] was not a problem as pieces were instantly recognisable. In the early 21st century the value of metal rose to such an extent that theft of massive bronze sculpture for the value of the metal became a problem; sculpture worth millions being stolen and melted down for the relatively low value of the metal, a tiny fraction of the value of the artwork.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16266378 BBC: Barbara Hepworth sculpture stolen from Dulwich Park, 20 December 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110005345/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16266378 |date=10 November 2018 }}. Example of theft of large bronze sculpture for the value of the metal.</ref>

==Form==
===Cultural===
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Classical sculpture|Classical]]
* [[French sculpture|French]]
* [[Italian Renaissance sculpture|Italian Renaissance]]
{{Div col end}}

===Method===
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Bronze sculpture|Bronze]]
* [[Butter sculpture|Butter]]
* [[Electrotyping]]
* [[Gas sculpture|Gas]]
* [[Hill figure]]
* [[Living sculpture|Living]]
* [[Mobile (sculpture)|Mobiles]]
* [[Origami]]
* [[Plaster cast]]
* [[Tondo (art)|Tondo]]
* [[Tree shaping]]
* [[Wax sculpture|Wax]]
* [[Welded sculpture|Welded]]
{{Div col end}}

===Application===
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Architectural sculpture|Architectural]]
* [[Garden sculpture|Garden]]
* [[Marriage stone]]
* [[Mask]]
* [[Monumental sculpture|Monumental]]
* [[Relief]]
** [[Rock relief]]
* [[Sculpture garden]]
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Visual arts}}
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[List of sculptors]]
* [[List of female sculptors]]
* [[Outline of sculpture]]
* [[List of Stone Age art]]
* [[List of sculpture parks]]
* [[List of most expensive sculptures]]
* [[List of tallest statues]]
* [[Assemblage (art)|Assemblage]]
* [[Cass Sculpture Foundation]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|22em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Boucher, Bruce, ''Italian Baroque Sculpture'', 1998, Thames & Hudson (World of Art), {{ISBN|0-500-20307-5}}
* [[Anthony Blunt|Blunt Anthony]], ''Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450–1660'', OUP, 1940 (refs to 1985 ed), {{ISBN|0-19-881050-4}}
* [[John Boardman (art historian)|Boardman, John]] ed., ''The Oxford History of Classical Art'', OUP, 1993, {{ISBN|0-19-814386-9}}
* Briggs, Philip (2015) [1995]. ''Ethiopia''. Chalfont St Peter: Bradt Travel Guides. {{ISBN|978-1-84162-922-3}}.
* Burnett, Andrew, ''Coins; Interpreting the Past'', University of California/British Museum, 1991, {{ISBN|0-520-07628-1}}
* Calkins, Robert G.; ''Monuments of Medieval Art'', Dutton, 1979, {{ISBN|0-525-47561-3}}
* Cherry, John. ''The Holy Thorn Reliquary'', 2010, British Museum Press (British Museum objects in focus), {{ISBN|0-7141-2820-1}}
* [[Robert Manuel Cook|Cook, R.M.]], ''Greek Art'', Penguin, 1986 (reprint of 1972), {{ISBN|0-14-021866-1}}
* De Lorenzi, James (2015). ''Guardians of the Tradition: Historians and Historical Writing in Ethiopia and Eritrea''. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. {{ISBN|978-1-58046-519-9}}.
* [[Charles Reginald Dodwell|Dodwell, C.R.]], ''Anglo-Saxon Art, A New Perspective'', 1982, Manchester University Press, {{ISBN|0-7190-0926-X}}
* [[Henri Frankfort|Frankfort, Henri]], ''The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient'', Pelican History of Art, 4th ed 1970, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), {{ISBN|0-14-056107-2}}
* Harkless, Necia Desiree (2006). ''Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings: The Kingdom of Kush''. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. {{ISBN|1-4259-4496-5}}.
* Harle, J. C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', 2nd ed. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0-300-06217-6}}
* Henderson, George. ''Gothic'', 1967, Penguin, {{ISBN|0-14-020806-2}}
* Henig, Martin (ed.), ''A Handbook of Roman Art'', Phaidon, 1983, {{ISBN|0-7148-2214-0}}
* [[Robert Treat Paine|Paine, Robert Treat]], in: Paine, R. T., & A. Soper, ''The Art and Architecture of Japan'', 3rd ed. 1981, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0-14-056108-0}}
* [[Hugh Honour]] and John Fleming, ''A World History of Art'', 1st ed. 1982 (many later editions), Macmillan, London, page refs to 1984 Macmillan 1st ed. paperback. {{ISBN|0-333-37185-2}}
* Howgego, Christopher, ''Ancient History from Coins'', Routledge, 1995, {{ISBN|0-415-08993-X}}
* [[Ernst Kitzinger|Kitzinger, Ernst]], ''Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century'', 1977, Faber & Faber, {{ISBN|0-571-11154-8}} (US: Cambridge UP, 1977)
* [[Roberta Olson|Olson, Roberta J. M.]], ''Italian Renaissance Sculpture'', 1992, Thames & Hudson (World of Art), {{ISBN|978-0-500-20253-1}}
* [[Jessica Rawson|Rawson, Jessica]] (ed.). ''The British Museum Book of Chinese Art'', 2007 (2nd ed), British Museum Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7141-2446-9}}
* Piotrovsky, M. B., and J. M. Rogers (eds), ''Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands'', 2004, Prestel, {{ISBN|3-7913-3055-1}}
* Robinson, James, ''Masterpieces of Medieval Art'', 2008, British Museum Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7141-2815-3}}
* Sandars, Nancy K., ''Prehistoric Art in Europe'', Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st ed.; early datings now superseded)
* {{cite book |author=Scholten, Frits | title= ''European sculpture and metalwork'' | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-58839-441-5 | url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/66219/rec/1}}
* Sickman, Laurence, in: Sickman L., & A. Soper, "The Art and Architecture of China", ''Pelican History of Art'', 3rd ed. 1971, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), {{LCCN|70125675}}
* Simon, Joshua. ''Neomaterialism'', Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-943365-08-5|}}
* Smith, W. Stevenson, and Simpson, William Kelly. ''The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt'', 3rd ed. 1998, Yale University Press (Penguin/Yale History of Art), {{ISBN|0-300-07747-5}}
* [[James Snyder (art historian)|Snyder, James]]. ''Northern Renaissance Art'', 1985, Harry N. Abrams, {{ISBN|0-13-623596-4}}
* Sobania, Neal W. (2012), "Lalibela", in Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Gates, Henry Louis Jr., ''Dictionary of African Biography'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.&nbsp;462, {{ISBN|978-0-19-538207-5}}.
* Sobania, Neal W. (2012). "Lalibela", in Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Gates, Henry Louis Jr., ''Dictionary of African Biography''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-538207-5}}.
* Strong, Donald, et al., ''Roman Art'', 1995 (2nd ed), Yale University Press (Penguin/Yale History of Art), {{ISBN|0-300-05293-6}}
* Williams, Dyfri. ''Masterpieces of Classical Art'', 2009, British Museum Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7141-2254-0}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* [http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/s/sculpture/ Sculpture "hub"] at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]
* [http://www.cmog.org/ Corning Museum of Glass]
* [http://www.sculpture.org.uk/ Cass Sculpture Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831102511/http://www.sculpture.org.uk/ |date=2009-08-31 }}, a charity dedicated to commissioning monumental sculpture.
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Sculpture|volume=24|pages=488–517}}
* Current research on polychromy on ancient sculpture at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek [http://www.trackingcolour.com Tracking Colour]

{{Sculptures}}
{{Branches of the visual arts|state=expanded}}
{{Art world}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sculpture| ]]
[[Category:Sculptures| ]]
[[Category:Sculpture techniques]]
[[Category:Visual arts terminology]]