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A statue is a sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal or object. Its primary concern is representational. However, as with all artistic topics, this definition of the concept Statue is far from exhaustive and can be/needs to be expanded.
Many statues are built on commission to commemorate a historical event, such as the Battle of Iwo Jima, or the life of an influential person, such as Mahatma Gandhi. Many statues are intended as public art, exhibited outdoors or in public buildings for the edification of passers-by.
An urban legend concerning a code for mounted statues, whereby the horse's hooves are supposed to indicate how the rider met his end, is not true. [1] (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_074.html)
A small statue is defined as being a statuette.
Oldest Statue Known To Date
The oldest statue, actually statuette, known to the present day is the Löwenmensch, or "lion man," statuette. Löwenmensch is on exhibit at the Ulmer Museum (http://www.museum.ulm.de/sammlungen/loewenmensch.htm) in Germany, where it was found in 1939!
Löwenmensch's age has been estimated to be somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 years! Löwenmensch is about 28 centimeters tall and is made of carved ivory.
However, there is a controversy surrounding Löwenmensch's appearance. Because Löwenmensch had to be glued back together from nearly 200 fragments, some argue that they weren't glued back correctly. The researchers who tried to put Löwenmensch back together in 1939 certainly didn't know as much as we do today.
"Why would Löwenmensch be standing," some argue, "when so many other examples of lion statues that were created after Löwenmensch are all seated?" Innumerable Egyptian Sphinxes were all designed seated, for example. Also, Löwenmensch's backside is missing! Where did it go? And many of the ivory fragments constituting Löwenmensch's chest, belly and rear torso are all unusually straight, smooth and lacking any fur detailing whatsoever.
The explanation then is that Löwenmensch was probably originally designed to look something like the Gold Rhyton (http://www.livius.org/a/1/iran/rhyton2.jpg) found in Ecbatana, Persia (or ancient Iran). All of Löwenmensch's smooth fragments are likely merely pieces of a large drinking cup originally designed to fit on the back side!! Löwenmensch even has some feathers carved in the shoulder area that were probably originally intended to represent wings!!!
Regardless, whatever the original design was, Löwenmensch is still the oldest statuette known to this present day!
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