Recumbent effigy literally means a "likeness lying in repose"; life-size sculptures of deceased individuals wearing the costume of their station and lying supine. The effigy was usually placed on top of an empty cenotaph tomb chest or, less commonly, a sarcophagus which actually contained the body.
The recumbent effigy decorated Western European church monuments of important people from the Middle Ages onwards, though this art form is known to a lesser degree in other areas of the world.