{"product_id":"couchant-lion-with-a-cherub-marble-statue-170cm","title":"Couchant Lion With a Cherub Marble Statue - 170cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eCouchant across a moulded pedestal, a lion carries a winged cherub climbing at its shoulder. One small arm reaches into the mane and a leg is braced across the lion's foreleg. The lion's head is turned outward with the jaws parted and the mane cut in deep waves; the cherub is carved at about half the lion's scale, with its own small feathered wing behind it. A large acanthus scroll rises behind the pair and a garland with tassels is draped along the front edge. All of it sits on a moulded pedestal with a sunk field and a stepped base. The stone is a white marble with grey veining through the pedestal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Second Figure at Half the Scale\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo figures in one group are carved to different rules. The lion is read from twenty paces and its forms are cut broad and deep so they hold at that distance. The cherub is half the size and will only ever be looked at from close to, so the same depth of cut on it would make it coarse - a child's face with a lion's shadows in it. Its features are therefore worked shallower in absolute terms and its limbs finished smoother, and the mane it grips is cut deeper around the small hand than elsewhere so the hand reads as gripping rather than resting. Getting the cherub to look soft against an animal cut hard is the whole difficulty of the group.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a piece to put at the end of a drive. The lion would carry that far, but the cherub, the garland tassels and the acanthus scroll are all close-range carving and the group is only half itself at a distance. Put it where people pass within a pace or two: a courtyard, a terrace beside seating, a hall or an orangery, the turn of a path. At 170cm on its pedestal the cherub sits at about eye level, which is where it wants to be. White marble with grey veining reads well against brick, render and dark planting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Group That Rewards Coming Close\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-three to twenty-five weeks. Blocking the pedestal and its sunk field opens the work, and the couchant group is roughed above it with cherub and scroll left solid. The lion is brought to near-finish first, because the cherub is cut into the space the lion leaves and not the other way round. The mane is left deliberately deep wherever the cherub's small hand will grip it. The cherub is then carved out of its reserved block, head and face last, at a shallower relative depth than anything on the animal. The acanthus scroll behind is separated after that, and the garland and its tassels are the final work - they hang clear of the front edge and cannot be leaned on once free. Lion, cherub, scroll and garland all emerge from one block, unpinned and unfilled. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops. Some 2,867kg divided between group and pedestal, craned in order onto a poured concrete footing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAllied figure groups belong to \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and classical carving to \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/classic-sculptures\"\u003eclassic 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\u003e170cm\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":53834316284251,"sku":"MST-ANI-064","price":26707.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-064_1.jpg?v=1787154671","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/couchant-lion-with-a-cherub-marble-statue-170cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}