Xia Dynasty Flood Disaster and Relief

Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material.^¹ The term relief is from the Latin verb relevare, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane.^¹ When a relief is carved into a flat surface of wood or stone, the field is actually lowered, leaving the unsculpted areas seeming higher.^¹ The approach requires chiselling away of the background, which can be time-intensive.^¹ On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, particularly in stone.^¹ In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be simply added to or raised up from the background.^¹ Monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.