{"product_id":"horse-head-bust-with-flowing-mane-marble-180cm","title":"Horse Head Bust with Flowing Mane Marble - 180cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA horse's head and upper neck are carved as a bust, the muzzle fine and dropped. The nostril is flared, the eye open under a heavy brow and both ears pricked forward. The mane lifts from the crest in long ribbon-like locks, each undercut clear of the next. Each lock is cut as a separate band sweeping back and down in a deep undercut curl. The neck is cut off cleanly at the base and seats onto a low hexagonal socle. White marble near neutral, grey veining drifting through cheek, neck and socle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMane Ribbons Set Out Before the Neck Is Rounded\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mane is nine-tenths of the work on this bust and it has one unforgiving property: the locks have to be evenly spaced along the crest, and the crest is a curve. Mark the spacing on a rounded neck and the locks crowd where the curve tightens and open where it eases, which reads as carelessness rather than as hair. So the neck is left square-sided while the crest line is struck and the lock positions stepped off along it with a measure, and only then is the neck rounded, following the marks rather than cutting across them. Each ribbon is then undercut clear of the one behind it, working from the outermost inward, so that the deepest and most fragile curls are cut when there is nothing left to knock them against.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA bust is a fragment by design and it reads as one - the neck cut off square announces that you are looking at part of an animal rather than a small whole one. At 180cm the muzzle comes to about head height, which is where a bust wants to be. Get that height right and it works; stand it on the floor and it reads as a head that has fallen off something. So it belongs on a plinth, a pier, a console, a hall table, a broad sill - anywhere that lifts the muzzle to about the height of your own face. Set it where the mane is lit from the side, since the whole of that work is shadow between ribbons.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Bust Wants to Be Met at Head Height\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEighteen to twenty weeks. Setting out the mane ribbons before the neck is rounded keeps their spacing from crowding. The socle is dressed and the bust roughed above it with the neck left square-sided, the crest line struck and the lock positions stepped off along it. The neck is then rounded to those marks. Head, muzzle and brow follow, the ears held as stubs until late. The mane ribbons are undercut from the outermost inward at the very end. Bust and socle carry no pin, no dowel and no filler at any point at all. Some 3,403kg for bust and socle, craned into place and bedded onto a prepared pad. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCarved heads occupy a corner of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and indoor-scale work \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\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":53837288178011,"sku":"MST-ANI-141","price":24891.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-141_1.jpg?v=1787180533","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/horse-head-bust-with-flowing-mane-marble-180cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}