In Ancient Greece and Rome the erection of a portrait statue in a public place was almost the highest mark of honour, and the ambition of the elite, who might also be depicted on a coin, In other cultures such as Egypt and the Near East public statues were almost exclusively the preserve of the ruler, with other wealthy people only being portrayed in their tombs.
Majhne okrasne figurice, najbolj pogosto v keramiki, so priljubljene tudi danes (čeprav čudno zanemarjene od moderne in sodobne umetnosti), kot so bile v rokokoju ali v antični Grčiji, ko so bile Tanagra figurice glavna proizvodnja ali pa v vzhodni Aziji in pred-kolumbovski umetnosti.