{"product_id":"leaping-dolphin-on-a-wave-marble-statue-180cm","title":"Leaping Dolphin on a Wave Marble Statue - 180cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA dolphin leaps steeply from carved water, the body arched almost upright. The head is up and the beak open, one pectoral fin swept back and the flukes dropping into the water beneath. Tall combed crests carry rows of rounded foam bosses, hollowed and undercut behind. The wave rises to a rounded foot. Each version has its own wave block, and one carving is supplied. White marble crisply finished, grey veining stronger through the wave than the body.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCutting a Mirror Image\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA mirrored pair is not two copies of one carving, it is two carvings that have to be wrong in exactly opposite ways. Every measurement is taken twice, in opposite hands, and the carver has to work against his own habits: the hand that naturally leads on one animal has to follow on the other, and the passes that come easily on a left-leaning body are the awkward ones on a right-leaning one. The test is the pair seen together, and it is unforgiving - a difference of a degree in the angle of the leap, or a centimetre in the height of the beak, is invisible on either piece alone and glaring when they face each other. So neither is finished until both can be stood side by side and compared.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA steeply leaping animal that leans to one side is not a centrepiece - it is half of an arrangement, and it is composed to have its mirror image opposite it. At 180cm the beak of each animal reaches head height, one leaning either way. That makes it a piece for flanking: either side of steps, a gateway, a pool, a doorway, the head of a walk, the ends of a terrace. One alone works where it can lean into a space rather than out of it - at the end of a wall, in a corner, at the turn of a path. Worth deciding before ordering, since the price here buys a single animal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eComposed to Flank Something\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEighteen to twenty weeks. Cutting a mirrored piece means every measurement is taken twice, in opposite hands. Water and foot go in first as a single undifferentiated mass, and stay that way while the dolphin is cut rising out of them - torso before head, as always. The pectoral fin and the flukes are freed late, each standing clear on thin stone. The combed crests and rounded foam bosses are hollowed and undercut at the very end. Where a pair is ordered, neither is finished until both can be compared side by side. Animal and wave are one block; no pin, no dowel and no filler in either. Some 3,403kg for one animal and wave, craned across onto a poured concrete footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlanking pieces belong within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and the tallest of them \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/large-garden-statues\"\u003elarge garden 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":"Version 1","offer_id":53872387490139,"sku":"MST-ANI-153-V1","price":26977.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Version 2","offer_id":53872387522907,"sku":"MST-ANI-153-V2","price":26977.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-153_1.jpg?v=1787589995","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/leaping-dolphin-on-a-wave-marble-statue-180cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}