Reclining Figure 1939 Reclining Figure 1939 Reclining Figure 1939 (LH 210) is an elmwood sculpture by Henry Moore. It is an abstracted reclining human figure, with looped head, shoulders, and sinuous body and limbs. The sculpture draws on Moore's small terracotta 1938 "Reclining Figure" ( long, now lost) which was cast in bronze (LH 185, in an edition of 7+1: seven casts for sale, and one artist's copy). Moore scaled up the earlier sculpture up to carve in wood, creating a unique work which measures . It is one of six large reclining figures in elmwood carved by Moore between 1935 and 1978.
Bronze and brass ornamental work were doubtless votive figures, others were images in domestic shrines, and some were certainly ornaments. Among the cult-idols are the dancing Lares, who carry cornucopias and libation-bowls. The little Heracles that Lysippus made for Alexander was a table-ornament ("epitrapezios"): he was reclining on the lion's skin, his club in one hand, a wine-cup in the other. With the invention of hollow casting bronze became the most important medium of monumental sculpture, largely because of its strength and lightness, which admitted poses that would not be possible in stone. But the value of the metal in later ages has involved the