Sculpture may be defined as the art of representation in solid material and in three dimension.
The oldest surviving art objects are sculptures made from bones, ivory, stone or antlers. These were either engraved by incising an outlined figure with a sharp tool, craved in deep relief, or fully rounded three dimensional sculpture.
This art includes also casting or founding, which is subdivided into the art of making figures of wax, and that of casting them in all sorts of metals. The method employed have changed with the progress of civilization. Perhaps the most universally used material is clay. This moistened to proper degree of softness, then molded with the hands into the desired shape.
Historians proposes that the art of sculpture originated among the Egyptians, the Etruscans and Greeks, independently of each other; and that their first attempts were introduced and characterized by their public worship or political establishments.
In Egypt the sculpture was largely connected with the temple and the tomb. The tombs called for the most extensive use of the sculptor’s art.
In examining the ruins of Persepolis, sufficient evidence occurred, that sculpture was known in Persia in the period of its earliest kings. In Assyria, the art of sculpture flourishes under Queen Semiramis.
Ancient Sculpture
