{"product_id":"resting-swan-on-a-granite-base-marble-statue-80cm","title":"Resting Swan on a Granite Base Marble Statue - 80cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA swan sits low and still, the wings closed over its back and the head brought round and down. Tiers of overlapping feathers run back across the closed wings, and beneath them the flank is left unbroken. The lore, the bill margin and the eye are picked out in a glossy black, the bill left white. The oval plate beneath is a grey granite, dressed to an even granular edge. Fine white marble in the bird, soft grey veining through the neck and the body. The base is a different stone from the bird, and the note below explains which is which.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Granite Plate Is a Different Job\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo stones means two workshops. The swan is a fine white marble and is carved with marble tools at marble speeds; the oval plate beneath it is granite, which is a great deal harder, needs diamond tooling and running water, and takes several times as long per centimetre removed. So the plate is made first and separately, dressed flat and true and brought to its finished granular edge before the bird arrives - because a granite surface cannot be adjusted later to suit a marble carving that has drifted. That inverts the usual order: normally the base is trimmed to the figure at the end, and here the figure has to be seated to a base that was finished weeks earlier and will not move.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt 80cm and 299kg this is one of the smallest and lightest pieces here, which makes it unusually easy to place. At 80cm this sits low enough for a plinth, a pier cap or a wide sill to carry it. A poolside, the head of steps, a terrace table, a hall floor, a broad windowsill: it needs a flat surface and a prepared pad, and no structural thinking. Two practical points. The granite plate is darker than the bird by some way, so the piece reads as two tones and is at its best where that contrast is wanted. And the dark markings on the head are laid on rather than quarried, so a piece kept outdoors will need them checked from time to time - which is not true of the stone around them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eSmall Enough to Put Almost Anywhere\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen to sixteen weeks, the marble and the granite running in parallel. Dressing the granite plate flat is a separate job in a harder stone, done before the bird arrives. The bird is then roughed as one compact mass, body and folded wings brought down together and the neck kept thick until late because it carries the head. The feather tiers are laid out from the shoulder outward. The bird is seated onto the finished plate, and the colour on the head goes on at the very end. Bird and plate take no pin and no filler, the plate bedded dry beneath. Only 299kg all told, which four people and a trolley will bed onto a prepared pad. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWaterbirds fill a corner of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and compact pieces sit in \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\u003e80cm\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":53837123879259,"sku":"MST-ANI-134","price":10081.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-134_1.jpg?v=1787179064","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/resting-swan-on-a-granite-base-marble-statue-80cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}