▪ I. sculpture, n.
(ˈskʌptjʊə(r))
Also 6 sculture.
[ad. L. sculptūra, f. sculpĕre to carve, engrave, sculpture. Cf. F. sculpture (15–16th c.; an older synonym was sculpeüre, f. sculper to ‘sculp’), Sp. escultura, Pg. esculptura, It. scultura (whence the 16th c. Eng. form sculture).]
1. Originally, the process or art of carving or engraving a hard material so as to produce designs or figures in relief, in intaglio, or in the round. In modern use, that branch of fine art which is concerned with the production of figures in the round or in relief, either by carving, by fashioning some plastic substance, or by making a mould for casting in metal; the practice of this art.
Now chiefly used with reference to work in stone (esp. marble) or bronze (similar work in wood, ivory, etc. being spoken of as carving), and to the production of figures of considerable size. Thus to apply the term, e.g. to die-sinking or to stone-carving on a small scale would now be regarded as a transferred use.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 83 Zenzis fond ferst the pourtreture, And Promotheüs the Sculpture. 1563 Shute Archit. A ij, And hauing the sayde trikes and deuises aswell of sculture & painting as also of Architecture. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. d ij b, Though I mencion not Sculpture, in my Table of Artes Mathematicall. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. xxxv. 76 The Excellence of Sculpture is the Effect of repeated Experience, which refers itself to the Works of Nature, as to its Archetype. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. 573 Nor in painting's light, or mightier verse, Or sculpture's marble language. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets x. 320 Sculpture is the language of the body, music the language of the soul. |
b. † The operation of cutting or engraving (obs.); the operation of sculpturing.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Isagoge e 8 b, All may have Sculpture by the powder of smiris, except the adamant. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. vi. §20. 262 The dog..watches the progress of the sculpture with a grave interest. |
c. Kind or quality of sculptured work.
| 1653 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 4 And I shall hope to set nothing upon his spirit but what may be of a good sculpture. |
2. concr. a. The product of the sculptor's art; that which is sculptured († or engraved); sculptured figures in general.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 167 And of what Ston his sepulture Thei sholden make, and what sculpture He wolde ordeine therupon. 1638 Sir R. Cotton Tower Rec. 23 For money is not meerely to bee esteemed in respect of the sculpture or figure. 1750 Gray Elegy 79 Some frail memorial still erected nigh, With uncouth rhimes and shapeless sculpture deck'd. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 763 When sculpture is represented, as it is always supposed to be white marble or stone, the engraving should be light and smooth. |
| fig. 1645 Milton Tetrach. 28 These ages wherin Canons, and Scotisms, and Lumbard Laws, have dull'd and almost obliterated the lively Sculpture of ancient reason. |
b. In particularized sense: A work of sculpture; a sculptured († or engraved) figure or design.
| 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Sculpture, a caruing, a grauing. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 716 Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav'n. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 66 A pretty church..remarkable for its exquisite marble sculptures. 1847 Tennyson Princess v. 54 Like some sweet sculpture draped from head to foot, And push'd by rude hands from its pedestal. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. ii. (1875) 53 In some places of Western Europe, rock sculptures have been discovered. |
| fig. 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. ii. verse 14 iii. i. 207 Righteousness..is a sculpture, the Spirit ingraves on none, but the children of God. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. §47. 675 The Divine art and wisdom..would..everywhere impress the sculptures and signatures of itself. |
† 3. A picture or illustration printed from an engraved plate or block; an engraving; engravings collectively. Obs.
| 1654 Ogilby Wks. Virg. title-p., Translated, adorn'd with Sculpture and illustrated with Annotations. 1670 ― Africa title-p., Adorn'd with peculiar Maps, and proper Sculptures. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. Introd. 13 An admirable Draught or Sculpture of this Ship..in four large sheets of Dutch Paper, will shortly be published. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Dryden Wks. 1816 IX. 324 Settle..had published his play with sculptures and a preface of defiance. |
4. Nat. Hist. Marking of the skin, shell, or surface of any animal or plant resembling that produced by a carving tool.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiv. 397 The sculpture of the integument of insects is often very remarkable. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 277 In a few the claws are visible, and the sculpture, and even some degree of local colouring are preserved. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1873) 116 But in some of these plants the seeds also differ in shape and sculpture. 1894 Geol. Mag. Oct. 434 In its sculpture Ammonites Bainii..somewhat resembles the present species. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as sculpture-gallery; sculpture-like adj.
| 1834 Mrs. Hemans Scenes & Hymns of Life, Water-lily 237 Thou sculpture-like and stately River-Queen! 1856 W. Hughes Treas. Geog. 250/2 The glyptothek, or sculpture-gallery [of Munich]. |
▪ II. sculpture, v.
(ˈskʌlptjʊə(r))
[f. sculpture n.]
1. trans. To represent in sculpture, to carve (a design or figure) from the solid.
| 1645 Evelyn Diary June, The altar is cover'd with a canopy of ophit, on which is sculptur'd the storie of the Bible. 1852 T. Parker Ten Serm. Relig. ii. (1863) 36 As they who sculptured loveliness in stone two thousand years ago. 1875 McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 33 A square stone, on which dials have been carefully sculptured. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam ix. 3746 That record shall remain..And fame, in human hope which sculptured was, Survive the perished scrolls of unenduring brass. 1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 154/1 The wax-workers..do not possess the power of sculpturing the cells. 1852 T. Parker Ten Serm. Relig. ii. (1863) 36 All the manly excellence that we slowly meditate and slowly sculpture into life. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vi. 42 The edges..are soon sculptured off by the action of the sun. |
2. To decorate with sculpture. Also pass. (Nat. Hist.), to bear marks resembling sculpture.
| 1645 Evelyn Diary 25 Jan., The very bell, cover of a book, sprinkler &c. were all of the rock, incomparably sculptur'd with the holy story in deepe Levati. 1737 Pope Imit. Hor., Ep. ii. ii. 264 Gold, Silver, Iv'ry, Vases sculptur'd high. 1835 J. Duncan Beetles (Nat. Lib.) 155 The thorax is sculptured with numerous excavated dots. |