{"product_id":"descending-tiger-grey-granite-statue-150cm","title":"Descending Tiger Grey Granite Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA tiger comes down over a rock in a steep curve, jaws wide open on bared fangs. The shoulders stay high and the head drops low at the front, the near forepaw reaching down and the hind legs still up on the rock behind. The rock is carved with tufted grasses and a band of scrolled water along its foot, and the whole spreads to an integral rocky base. No stripes are carved. This is GRANITE, not marble: fine dark mineral grains lie dense across a pale grey field. Pale grey granite, finely and densely speckled with dark grains against a light field.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Descending Curve Cannot Be Revised\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis animal is one long curve running from high haunches down to a dropped head, and the whole piece stands or falls on that line. It is also the one thing that cannot be adjusted: the curve runs diagonally through the block, so every part of it is committed as soon as the roughing starts, and there is no surplus stone anywhere along it to retreat into. In granite that matters twice over, because a correction that would cost a week in marble costs a month here. So the curve is struck on the raw block in elevation and from both sides, checked against the diagonal of the stone, and only then is a single pass taken. Everything after that - rock, grasses, water band - is fitted to a line that already exists.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGranite is the most weather-resistant stone we work: frost, salt spray, driving rain and freeze-thaw all leave it alone in a way they do not leave marble. At 150cm the dropped head comes low and the haunches stay high behind it. So this belongs where exposure is the problem - a coastal garden, an open hillside, a windswept terrace, a car court, anywhere a white marble animal would need looking after. The descending pose wants height beneath it or in front of it: on a bank, at the top of steps, over a retaining wall, at the edge of a raised bed, so the animal reads as coming DOWN towards you rather than merely standing at an angle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGranite for an Exposed Position\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks, and the granite sets the pace. Setting the descending curve out on the block governs everything, since it cannot be revised. The rock mass is blocked out and the descending curve struck on the raw stone in elevation and from both sides. The animal is then roughed to that line, the shoulders left high and the head brought down last. Diamond tooling is run wet throughout. The reaching forepaw is freed late, and the tufted grasses and the scrolled water band along the foot are cut at the very end. Cat, rock and grasses are one piece of granite, unpinned and unfilled. Some 1,969kg of hard granite, craned across and bedded onto a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBig cats prowl within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and predators fill \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/wildlife-sculptures\"\u003ewildlife 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\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 Granite\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53841769529691,"sku":"MST-ANI-174","price":22249.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-174_1.jpg?v=1787232291","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/descending-tiger-grey-granite-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}