{"product_id":"caparisoned-elephant-white-marble-statue-150cm","title":"Caparisoned Elephant White Marble Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn profile and richly caparisoned, an elephant stands with a vessel held at its trunk tip. Its saddle-cloth is bordered in key-fret and centred upon an ornamented roundel, with beaded harness and hanging tassels across the flank. The tusks are short, the ears fall in deep folds, and the trunk curls down to hold the vessel at its tip. Beneath is an ornate pedestal carved with a lattice diaper and a draped-cloth motif over a stepped base. A bright white marble throughout, with only faint grey drift down in the pedestal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eEvery Cell Set Out Before Any Is Sunk\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA lattice diaper is a field of small repeating cells, and it is the most unforgiving ornament in this range for one reason: an error does not stay local. Cut the cells by eye and each is a fraction off, the errors accumulate across the face, and by the far corner the lattice is visibly out of step with the border that frames it. So none of it is cut until all of it is drawn. The face is divided, the cells proportioned until a whole number fits between the borders in both directions, and every intersection marked. Only then does the sinking start, and it goes across the whole field in passes rather than cell by cell, which holds them all to one depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA caparisoned elephant is a threshold animal - it is carved to stand where people arrive, and it works in the same way a guardian lion does, by being met rather than looked at across a lawn. Either side of a doorway, at a gateway, at the head of steps, flanking a porch. At 150cm the animal's back comes to about waist height on someone standing beside it. That height puts the carved cloth and the lattice on the pedestal at exactly the distance they were cut for. A white marble stands out against brickwork, dark render or planting far more than against pale stone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Guardian at Waist Height\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFifteen to seventeen weeks. Cutting the lattice diaper on the pedestal takes the opening weeks, every cell set out before any is sunk. The draped-cloth motif is cut after the diaper, so its folds can be run across a finished field, and the bed above is worked flat. The beast is worked from a block of its own - stood up first, the legs held as heavy columns, then the barrel of the body and the deep folds of the ears. The saddle-cloth and its roundel are carved into the back after the body is complete. The trunk is cut last and the vessel at its tip last of all, since both hang clear and cannot be leaned on. Neither the animal nor its pedestal takes a pin, a dowel or a filler of any kind. About 1,969kg all told, which a single gantry lift will place upon a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuardian animals gather within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and doorway pieces belong to \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/garden-statues\"\u003egarden statues\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\u003e150cm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBase\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eIncluded\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":53835194990939,"sku":"MST-ANI-077","price":23229.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-077_1.jpg?v=1787158461","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/caparisoned-elephant-white-marble-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}