{"product_id":"calling-swan-white-marble-statue-70cm","title":"Calling Swan White Marble Statue - 70cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA swan rises from the water with both wings lifted and its neck stretched low. The bill is open at the tip, as though calling - the two mandibles are cut apart. Each wing carries courses of scalloped covert feathers running shoulder to tip, the long primaries beneath them cut as parallel quills, and the breast and flank carry a fine incised cross-hatched feather texture. No slab and no plinth - the body ends in a flat dressed underside and stands on it. White marble, neutral, fine and matte with a subtle mottling and no mineral speckle. The wings read a shade grey against the breast, and the mottling with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCross-Hatching a Breast by Hand\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe breast and flank of this bird are covered in a fine incised cross-hatch - two sets of parallel lines crossing at a shallow angle - and it is the slowest passage on the piece by a wide margin. The reason is that cross-hatching is unforgiving twice over: each set of lines has to stay parallel over a doubly curved surface, and the two sets have to cross at a constant angle everywhere they meet. Either one drifting is visible, and both drifting turns the texture into a smear. At this size there is no room to work large either, so it is cut with fine rifflers under a lens, one direction fully completed across the whole breast before the second is begun, so that the crossing angle is judged against a finished field rather than against half of one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt 200kg this is one of the lightest pieces in the range, and two people can put it where they like. At 70cm this belongs on something - a sill, a table, a pier cap - and not on the floor. It has no base and ends in a flat dressed underside, so it needs a flat surface rather than a foundation: a broad sill, a console, a pier cap, a low wall, a hall table, a terrace ledge. The cross-hatched breast is close work that means nothing beyond a couple of paces, so indoors or on a terrace people pass suits it far better than a lawn. Raking light does more for the wing courses than flat light.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eSmall Enough to Want a Surface\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwelve to fourteen weeks, most of it in the texture rather than the form. Cross-hatching the breast by hand is the slowest passage on a piece this small. The block is squared and the bird roughed within it, both wings held as thick slabs while the body and the stretched neck are brought down. The wings are then thinned in alternation and their scalloped covert courses laid from the shoulder outward, the long primaries beneath them. The open bill is cut late. The cross-hatched breast is incised last, one direction completed before the second begins. Nothing in the bird is pinned or filled; it is one stone throughout. At 200kg two people manage it, bedded onto a prepared pad or set down on any firm surface. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWaterbirds gather across \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and small work fills \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/indoor-sculptures\"\u003eindoor sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSpecification\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable class=\"spec_table\"\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHeight\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e70cm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHand-Carved Natural Marble\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53843255624027,"sku":"MST-ANI-179","price":7578.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-179_1.jpg?v=1787234863","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/calling-swan-white-marble-statue-70cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}