A type of sculpture in which a three-dimensional image protrudes above a flat background is called a relief. There are four types of relief: bas-relief, high relief, counter-relief, and coyanaglyph.
Relief images are created using carving, molding or embossing - depending on the material, which can be clay, stone or wood. The difference between a bas-relief, a high-relief, a relief and a coyanaglyph is the ratio of the volume of the image and the background.
Bas-relief
Bas-relief is also called "low relief". On such a relief, the convex image protrudes above the background by half its own volume or less. If we imagine that the image is a collection of full-fledged sculptural figures, and the background is sand, in which they are partially immersed, then on the bas-relief they appear to be "immersed" by half or even deeper, their smaller part remains "on the surface".
The very first bas-reliefs appeared in the Stone Age - they were images carved on rocks. Bas-reliefs are found in almost all cultures of the Ancient World: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Persia, India. In Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, bas-reliefs were most often placed on the pediments of temples, becoming, as it were, a "visiting card" of a religious building. The art of bas-relief existed both in the Middle Ages and in modern times.
Bas-reliefs have been and continue to be used to decorate coins, medals, buildings, monument pedestals, and memorial plaques.
High relief
In contrast to the bas-relief, the high relief is called "high relief." The image here protrudes above the plane by more than half of its volume. Individual shapes can even be completely detached from the background. High relief, rather than bas-relief, is suitable for depicting landscapes, as well as scenes involving many figures.
Examples of high relief can be found in ancient art. One of the most famous examples is the Pergamon altar dating back to the 2nd century. BC. The high relief depicts the plot of the ancient Greek myth - the battle of the Olympian gods with the titans.
In ancient Rome, triumphal arches were often decorated with high reliefs. This tradition has revived in modern times - high reliefs are also present on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Other types of relief
The counter-relief is something like a "negative" of the bas-relief, its imprint, deepened into the background. Counter-relief is used in matrices and seals. A different understanding of counter-relief can be observed in the avant-garde art of the 20th century, in particular, in the works of V. Tatlin. Here the counter-relief is interpreted as a "hypertrophied" relief that has completely got rid of the background - the exposure of real objects.
A coyanaglyph is an image carved into a plane. It does not protrude from the background and does not go deeper into it - only the contours of the figures deepen. Such an image compares favorably with the bas-relief and high-relief in that it is not threatened with chipping, therefore, it is better preserved. Coyanaglyphs are found in the art of Ancient Egypt and other civilizations of the Ancient East.
