Iberian sculpture, a subset of Iberian art, describes the various sculptural

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 styles developed by the Iberians

Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...

 from the Bronze age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 up to the Roman conquest. For this reason it is sometimes described as Pre-Roman Iberian sculpture.

Almost all extant works of Iberian sculpture visibly reflect Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 and Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

n influences, and Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

n and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian influences derived from those; yet they have their own unique character. Within this complex stylistic heritage, individual works can be placed within a spectrum of influences- some of more obvious Phoenician derivation, and some so similar to Greek works that they could have been directly imported from that region. Overall the degree of influence is correlated to the work's region of origin, and hence they are classified into groups on that basis.

The Levantine Group

The sculptures that comprise the Levantine

Levante, Spain

The Levante is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former Xarq Al-Andalus, but has no modern geopolitical definition...

 group were mostly made between the 5th century B.C. and the period of Roman domination; this group is best represented in museum collections. The most famous among them is the bust known as The Lady of Elche, which displays evident Greek influence. Others works in this style number over 670; though there are stylistic differences, which testify to the successive influences of conquering peoples.

More visibly oriental references, possibly influenced by the Egyptian sphinx

Sphinx

A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...

 and the Assyrian Lamassu

Lamassu

A Lamassu , is a protective deity, often depicted with a bull or lion's body, eagle's wings, and human's head. In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a female deity...

, are evident in the various stone sculptures in the form of sphinxes, bulls, or lions found in the area of Valencia

Valencia (province)

Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...

, Alicante

Alicante

Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...

, and Albacete

Albacete

Albacete is a city and municipality in southeastern Spain, 258 km southeast of Madrid, the capital of the province of Albacete in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The municipality had a population of c. 169,700 in 2009....

. They include:

• The Biche of Balazote
  Biche of Balazote
  The so-called Bicha of Balazote is an Iberian sculpture that was found in the borough of Balazote in Albacete province , Spain. It was first studied by a group of French archaeologists who identified it as a kind of deer, hence the name 'biche' , which was then Castillianized to 'bicha', i.e.,...
  
  , or the man - bull
• The Sphinx of Agost
  Sphinx of Agost
  The Sphinx of Agost is a Greek-influenced Iberian limestone sculpture, dated from the late sixth century BC, that was found in the Agost reservoir in Alicante, Spain, in 1893....
  
  , in Alicante, and that of Salobral (Albacete), which guards the Louvre
  Louvre
  The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
  
   Museum, though mutilated.
• The Lioness of Bocairente (Valencia), in the Provincial Museum of Valencia
• The Lion of Coy in Murcia
• The Lions of Baena (Cordova), which are similar to the previous ones
• The Deer of Caudete (Albacete) or the Lady of Caudete

The numerous statues of bronze (some of silver) found in two places of the region of Sierra Morena in the province of Jaén can be considered to be more indigenous derivatives of the initial, Greek and oriental- influenced, Levantine sculptural style.

In the period between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD, sanctuaries like Montealegre

Montealegre

Montealegre is a surname. Due to the spelling inconsistencies in former times, bearers of this name may be found under Montalegre, too.The name Montealegre appears during the reign of King Alfonso VIII as a Lordship of an Alfonso Téllez. the name continues to be connected to this noble family, when...

 used small bronze castings, rather than stone carvings, as votive offerings. These sculptures were cast from earthen molds in molten bronze in the technique of lost wax casting

Lost wax casting

Lost-wax casting sometimes called by the French name of cire perdue is the process by which a metal sculpture is cast from an artist's sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method, primarily depending on the carver's skills...

, but since the mold was rendered useless after only one casting, two identical works have yet to be found amongst these sculptures. Approximately 4,000 sculptures in this style have been excavated, depicting Iberian warriors, riders, religious celebrants, small horses, and body parts.

A great deal of Greek and Punic statues and busts in Terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

, together with various amulets in ivory, metal or carved of thin stone, have been uncovered at the necropolis of Ibiza

Ibiza

Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...

, La Palma

La Palma

La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...

, and Formentera

Formentera

Formentera is the smaller and more southerly island of the Pine Islands group , which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community .-Geography:...

. The oldest have been dated to the 8th century B.C., and they most likely continued to be made up to the Roman domination.
These include:

• The Lady of Ibiza
  Lady of Ibiza
  The Lady of Ibiza is a ceramic figure, 47 cm high, that dates from the third century BC. It is on display in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid....
  
  
• Praying Terracotta Figurines (3rd century BC)

Pieces also considered to be of Phoenician or Punic origin but with Greek influence include the bronze heads of bulls (probably votive offerings) found in Majorca. A very early Phoenician piece from Galera depicts a seated female, perhaps Astarte

Astarte

Astarte is the Greek name of a goddess known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Classical times...

, flanked by sphinxes.

• The Lady of Galera
  Lady of Galera
  Lady of Galera is an alabaster female figurine, made in the 7th century BC, that probably represents the Near Eastern goddess Astarte. It is at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain, in Madrid....
  
  

The Southern Group

The southern group is principally composed of sculptures found in sepulchers, and other funeral monuments, in the Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

n region. Most of them display heavy Phoenician influence. They are as follows:

• The sculptural set of Cerrillo Blanco
• the sculptural set of The Pajarillo
• The Punic stela of Villaricos (Almeria), of conical form and with Phoenician inscription
• The Lady of Baza
  Lady of Baza
  The Lady of Baza is a famous example of Iberian sculpture by the Bastetani. It is a limestone female figure with traces of painted detail in a stuccoed surface that was found on July 22, 1971 by Francisco José Presedo Velo, at Baza, in the altiplano, the high tableland in the northwest of the...
  
  .
• The plates and combs of ivory with reliefs of Carmona's necropolis.
• The anthropomorphic sarchophagus carved in marble with the figure of the deceased, of the Greek style, found in Cadiz
• The amulets with figurines of Egyptian style found in sepulchers of Cadiz and Málaga
  Málaga
  Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
  
  
• several other reliefs of the Phoenician or Iberian tradition but worked already with Roman influence, discovered in Osuna
  Osuna
  Osuna is a town and municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. , it has a population of c...
  
   (such as the Bull of Osuna
  Bull of Osuna
  The Bull of Osuna is a limestone high relief Iberian sculpture, 82 cm high, dated from the end of the 5th century BC, that is on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid....
  
  )

The Western Group

The western group is composed of granite funeral stelae from Portugal and Galicia that represent foot soldiers dressed in tunics and armed with round shields. These sculptures are relatively coarsely worked. Some of them bear Roman inscriptions, which were probably added long after the figures were carved.

The Central Group

In the center of the Peninsula, between the rivers Douro

Douro

The Douro or Duero is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto...

 and Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

 there are many granite sculptures roughly carved in the form of bulls, or perhaps some other animal. Some of these also have Roman inscriptions, which again were probably added later. The most famous of these monuments are the four known as the Bulls of Guisando

Bulls of Guisando

The Bulls of Guisando are a set of celtiberian sculptures located on the hill of Guisando in the municipality of El Tiemblo, Ávila, Spain. The sculptures, made of granite, represent quadrupeds identified as bulls or pigs...

. Archeologists consider them to be works of the same culture that carved the sphinxes of the Levantine region.