Valley Ridge Academy PTO

Carvings/Relief

Ancient Egyptians sometimes decorated tombs and monuments with carvings called reliefs. A thin layer of plaster was spread over the wall, polished, and smoothed. The sculptor used a large, wooden mallet and a copper or bronze chisel to make the carving.

There were two types of reliefs: raised reliefs and sunken reliefs. When creating a raised relief, the sculptor chiseled away the parts of the stone around the image. This made the image stand out.

To create a sunken relief, the sculpture carved away the image, leaving the background higher than the picture. Egyptians often combined the two styles when decorating tombs and monuments.