Plural of bas-relief; sculptural artworks where figures project only slightly from the background surface.
From Italian 'bassorilievo' and French 'bas-relief,' combining 'bas' (low) with Italian 'rilievo' (relief or raising), literally 'low relief.'
Bas-reliefs were the ancient world's way of creating cinematic scenes before film—they could depict action and depth on a nearly flat surface, and many famous ones decorated temples and tombs across Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
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