{"product_id":"leaping-fish-terracotta-marble-statue-120cm","title":"Leaping Fish Terracotta Marble Statue - 120cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fish leaps clear of carved water, the body curved into a deep C and the mouth open. The flank is covered in large overlapping scales, the dorsal fin runs as a combed crest along the back and the pectoral fin is spread like a fan. The water beneath is cut as curling crests. One animal is what is priced; a mirrored partner can be cut to order. Terracotta marble - a warm orange stone - even through body and wave, cream where light falls.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThe Void Inside the Curve\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis fish is bent into a deep C, and the space enclosed by that curve is the whole difficulty of the piece. It is not a gap left over when the body was cut - it is a void that has to be reached into from both sides with the head above it and the tail below it already in place, and finished on surfaces the carver cannot see square on. So it is opened early, while the body around it is still oversized and can survive a tool working blind, and the inner faces are brought to their finish by feel before the outer flank is taken down. Everything after that works outward from the void, which is the reverse of how a free-standing animal is carved.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA terracotta-red stone does its own separating. It will hold against brick, render, gravel or dark planting with nothing arranged behind it, and the one neighbour to avoid is white marble, where a visitor reads the colour mismatch long before either carving. At 120cm the leaping head reaches the waist, and the wave crest sits at the knee. Leaping carp are an auspicious subject and belong near water - a pool edge, a rill, a tank, a courtyard basin. They also read strongly as a facing pair either side of steps, a gate or a doorway, which is worth settling before ordering, since the price here buys a single animal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWarm Stone, and Better in Twos\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen to sixteen weeks. Opening the void inside the curve of the body is planned from the raw block onward. The wave and slab are blocked as one mass and the fish roughed rising from them, bent into its C with the enclosed void opened early while the body is still oversized. The inner faces are finished by feel, then the outer flank is taken down. The scale courses are laid from the gill back, the combed dorsal crest cut after them, and the fanned tail and pectoral freed last. Fish and wave come from one mass, with nothing pinned, dowelled or filled. Only 1,008kg for one animal and wave, gantry-borne and bedded onto a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuspicious subjects recur in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and warm stone through \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":53840416211291,"sku":"MST-ANI-160","price":15296.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-160_1.jpg?v=1787590647","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/leaping-fish-terracotta-marble-statue-120cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}