What Sunken Relief in Art?

A variation of relief carving, found almost exclusively in ancient Egyptian sculpture, is sunken relief (also called incised relief), in which the carving is sunk below the level of the surrounding surface and is contained within a sharply incised contour line that frames it with a powerful line of light and shade.

What is an example of sunken relief?

The ancient Egyptians sometimes carved figures into a flat surface. This type of carving is known as sunken relief. Statues that are almost three dimensional but still are attached to backgrounds are regarded as high relief. Mount Rushmore is considered to be a high relief sculpture.

What are the 3 types of relief art?

There are three basic types of relief sculpture: (1) low relief (basso-relievo, or bas-relief), where the sculpture projects only slightly from the background surface; (2) high relief (alto-relievo, or alto-relief), where the sculpture projects at least half or more of its natural circumference from the background, and ...