Oval
DEFINITION
An egg-like two-dimensional shape that looks like a circle that has been stretched to make it longer. The two ends of an oval may or may not be the same size and shape. Oval can be either a noun or an adjective. A three-dimensional form with oval shape is an ovoid.(pr. OH-vəl)Examples:Dexamenos (Greek, Chios), Intaglio of a Flying Heron, 5th century BCE, chalcedony, gold, 1.7 x 2.2 cm, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. See Greek art.Fran?ois Boucher (French, 1703-1770), Shepherd and Shepherdess Reposing (The School of Love), 1761, oil on canvas, relined, 76.6 x 63.6 cm, Wallace Collection, London. See Rococo. Mathew Brady (American, 1823-1896) Studio, Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), 1865, albumen silver print, 8 3/16 x 6 inches (20.8 x 15.3 cm), National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. This photograph was cropped to an oval shape. Dame Barbara Hepworth (English, 1903-1975), Oval Sculpture (No. 2), 1943, cast 1958, plaster, 29.3 x 40.0 x 25.5 cm, Tate Gallery, London. Because oval refers to a two-dimensional shape, this three-dimensional form would better be described as ovoid or ovate ? shaped like an egg. See sculpture.Also see curve, edge, ellipse, grisaille, and oblong.<br><br>An egg-like two-dimensional shape that looks like a circle that has been stretched to make it longer. The two ends of an oval may or may not be the same size and shape. Oval can be either a noun or an adjective. A three-dimensional form with oval shape is an ovoid.(pr. OH-vəl)