{"product_id":"leaping-dolphin-white-marble-garden-statue-120cm","title":"Leaping Dolphin White Marble Garden Statue - 120cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA dolphin leaps clear of carved water, its body arched and the tail dropping back. Both pectoral fins are swept back and the dorsal fin stands proud. The sea below is cut as breaking foam, its crests hollowed and undercut about an oval pool rim. The plinth beneath is rectangular and stepped, with a plain fillet. White marble crossed by strong grey veining in long diagonal threads throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eFoam Crests Left Uncut Until the End\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eBreaking water is the hardest thing on this piece and it is carved last, which is the opposite of how the base of a sculpture is usually treated. The reason is that a foam crest is stone at its thinnest and most exposed: hollowed behind, undercut beneath, standing clear on an edge a few millimetres through. Cut early, every crest is then in the firing line for every subsequent pass on the animal above it, and one clumsy blow costs a crest that cannot be put back. So the wave and its pool are blocked as a single solid mass and stay solid while the dolphin is brought to its finish above them. Only when nothing heavy remains to be done is the foam opened up - hollowed first, then undercut, working from the outside crests inward so the fragile work is finished last and touched least.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA leaping dolphin beside a swimming pool is not an imaginative choice and it is still the correct one: the carved wave states the subject's element, and a real water surface a few feet away completes an argument the piece is already making. A pool surround, a terrace above one, the head of steps into a bathing court. At 120cm the arched body sits at waist to chest height, close enough to trace the veins. The arch of the body reads from the side and collapses from the front, so set it broadside to the approach. The strong diagonal veining is the other reason to keep it close: those threads run through body, wave and plinth alike and are the most emphatic stone in the tranche, which is a pleasure at four paces and invisible at forty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThe Obvious Place, and Why It Is Right\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen to sixteen weeks. Blocking the wave and its pool as one solid mass opens the work, the foam crests left uncut until much later. The plinth is dressed with its fillet and the oval pool rim raised upon it, and the wave blocked as one mass above. The dolphin is roughed from that mass, the arched body first, the head and the swept pectoral fins after, and the dorsal fin freed late because it stands clear on thin stone. The tail is left merging into the wave, which is both the composition and the support. The foam crests are hollowed and undercut at the very end. No pins and no fillers in figure or wave, and the plinth beds dry beneath them. Some 1,008kg for the whole group, which a gantry will bed onto a prepared concrete pad. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSea creatures swim through \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and veined stone within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/marble-sculptures\"\u003emarble 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\u003e120cm\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":53836658803035,"sku":"MST-ANI-106","price":15296.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-106_1.jpg?v=1787173470","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/leaping-dolphin-white-marble-garden-statue-120cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}