{"product_id":"five-dolphins-on-a-wave-column-marble-statue-180cm","title":"Five Dolphins on a Wave Column Marble Statue - 180cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFive dolphins rise in a tall spiralling column of stylised water, each at its own height. Each faces a different way, the largest low on the right with its flukes dropped and the smallest low on the left. The water is cut as long combed crests with curled foam heads, hollowed and undercut throughout, rising to a rounded rectangular base. White marble, grey veining drifting through the bodies and stronger in the base. All five animals are cut from the one column, and all five are included.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Column Worked From the Top Down\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFive animals stacked up a spiralling column creates a problem of access rather than of skill. Once the topmost dolphin is finished it is thin, undercut and standing clear, and every subsequent blow struck further down the column travels up through the stone to it. So the order is inverted: the column is roughed entire, and then finished from the TOP animal downward, so that at every stage the delicate work is above the tool and the heavy work is below it. It also means the whole composition has to be set out on the raw block and adhered to, because by the time the bottom animals are reached there is no possibility of adjusting anything over them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWater is carved the whole way up the column here, and the effect is that the piece announces itself as a fountain whether or not anything is running. Very little else we make can be stood actually IN water to good effect; this can, and gains by it. At 180cm the topmost animal goes overhead and the lowest sits at about the knee. A pool, a tank, a courtyard basin, the head of a cascade, or a plinth in the centre of a lawn. Because the five animals face five different ways it is one of the very few pieces here with no bad side, so it suits a position walked all the way round - an island bed, a turning circle, the middle of a terrace. Light it from more than one direction if you can: the combed crests are undercut all over and a single hard source flattens them into a white mass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Fountain Silhouette Without the Plumbing\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks. Working the column from the top animal downward keeps the finished carving out of the way of the mallet. The base and the column are blocked as one solid mass and all five animals set out on the raw stone, since nothing can be moved later. The column is roughed entire, then finished from the topmost animal downward. Each dolphin's flukes and swept fins are freed as its turn comes, and the combed crests and curled foam heads are hollowed and undercut last on each course. All five animals and the column are one block, with no pin and no filler. Some 3,403kg for the whole column, craned upright onto a poured concrete footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSea creatures rise through \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and fountain-scale work in \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\u003e180cm\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":53837124763995,"sku":"MST-ANI-136","price":25656.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-136_1.jpg?v=1787179067","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/five-dolphins-on-a-wave-column-marble-statue-180cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}