Glossary Sculpture, figurines and art
Relief
Decoration that projects from a flat background, either carved in stone or modelled and applied in clay, in contrast to painted or incised work.
In low relief the design stands only slightly proud of the surface; in high relief it is deeply cut or built up. On Cypriot pottery the technique is mostly applied relief: strips and pellets of clay added to the pot before firing. Early Bronze Age Red Polished vessels from Vounous carry human couples, horned animals and snakes in relief, and Late Bronze Age Base Ring ware has fine relief lines, spirals and serpent-like motifs.
Relief also decorates Late Bronze Age storage jars, whose friezes were often rolled on with cylinder seals: at Alassa more than 150 pithos fragments carry such impressions. In stone, relief appears on Iron Age stelae and sculpture. See motifs of Cypriot pottery.
Full entry: Motifs of Cypriot Pottery
Related terms
- Cylinder seal
A small engraved stone cylinder that, rolled across wet clay, leaves a continuous impression; used to mark ownership and authority.
- Sphinx
A mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head, usually winged in Cypriot and Near Eastern art, used as a guardian and royal emblem.