  We present here a detailed study of the Sculptor dSph galaxy red giant branch
(RGB) and horizontal branch (HB) morphology, combining new near-infrared
photometry from CIRSI, with optical data from the ESO WFI. For a Sculptor-like
old and generally metal-poor system, the position of RGB stars on the
colour-magnitude diagram is mainly metallicity dependent. The advantage of
using optical-NIR colours is that the position of the RGB locus is much more
sensitive to metallicity than with optical colours alone. In contrast the
horizontal branch (HB) morphology is strongly dependent on both metallicity and
age. Therefore a detailed study of both the RGB in optical-NIR colours and the
HB can help break the age-metallicity degeneracy. Our measured photometric
width of the Sculptor giant branch corresponds to a range in metallicity of
0.75 dex. We detect the RGB and AGB bumps in both the NIR and optical
luminosity functions, and derive from them a mean metallicity of [M/H] = -1.3
+/- 0.1. From isochrone fitting we derive a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.42
with a dispersion of 0.2 dex. These photometric estimators are for the first
time consistent with individual metallicity measurements derived from
spectroscopic observations. No spatial gradient is detected in the RGB
morphology within a radius of 13 arcmin, twice the core radius. On the other
hand, a significant gradient is observed in the HB morphology index, confirming
the `second parameter problem' present in this galaxy. These observations are
consistent with an early extended period of star formation continuing in time
for a few Gyr. (Abridged)
