An
effigy is a representation of a specific person in the form of
sculpture or some other three-dimensional medium. The use of the term is normally restricted to certain contexts in a somewhat arbitrary way: recumbent effigies on tombs are so called, but standing statues of individuals, or busts, are usually not. Likenesses of religious figures in sculpture are not normally called effigies. Effigies are common elements of
funerary art, especially as a
recumbent effigy (in a lying position) in stone or metal placed on a tomb, or a less permanent "funeral effigy", placed on the coffin in a grand funeral, wearing real clothing. Figures, often
caricature in style, that are damaged, destroyed or paraded in order to harm the person represented by magical means, or merely to mock or insult them or their memory, are also called effigies.