{"product_id":"resting-swan-white-marble-garden-statue-150cm","title":"Resting Swan White Marble Garden Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA swan floats at rest, wings folded high over the back and the neck curved down. The wing feathers are cut in long overlapping tiers and the neck and breast carry a fine stippled feather texture. The head is picked out in colour: the lore, the bill margin and the eye are a glossy black and the bill itself is left a flat white - an applied finish, not the stone. It rests on a shallow oval plate whose edge is left rough-hewn. Bright white marble, unmarked, with no veining legible anywhere in bird or plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eOne Passage Deliberately Left Rough\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything on this bird is brought to a finish except the edge of the plate it sits on, which is left as split stone with the tool marks still in it. That is a decision, not an economy, and it is a harder one to carry out than finishing the lot. A rough edge has to look quarried rather than unfinished, which means it is worked deliberately - split with a point rather than sawn, then left entirely alone - and it has to be done at a stage when a slip cannot be corrected by taking the whole edge down, because taking it down would make the plate too small for the bird. So the plate is cut to size, the edge is split, and it is protected for the rest of the job while the swan above it is carved to a satin finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA swan at rest belongs beside water that is also at rest: a formal pool, a tank, a rill, the still end of a lake. At 150cm the folded wings reach about shoulder height on someone standing beside it. The folded wings give it a broad silhouette from the side and a narrow one head-on, so set it broadside to the approach. One practical point worth stating plainly: the black on the bill and eye is applied colour rather than stone, and applied colour outdoors will want looking at every few years where bare marble would not. If you would rather have the piece in plain stone throughout, ask - we are checking with the carvers whether it can be supplied unpainted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStill Water, and a Word About the Paint\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen to eighteen weeks. Leaving the plate's edge unworked is the deliberate part, and the only passage on the piece where the tool marks stay. The plate is cut to size and its edge split with a point, then protected. The bird is roughed above it as one compact mass, the body and folded wings brought down together, and the neck left thick until late because it carries the head. The long feather tiers are laid out from the shoulder outward, the stippled texture on neck and breast punched in afterwards, and the head and bill finished last. The colour goes on at the very end. Nothing in bird or plate is pinned or filled; only the head carries an applied finish. Some 1,969kg for bird and plate together, 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\u003eWaterbirds occupy a corner of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and park-scale pieces fill \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/outdoor-sculptures\"\u003eoutdoor 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\u003e150cm\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":53836687245659,"sku":"MST-ANI-110","price":22249.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-110_1.jpg?v=1787174873","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/resting-swan-white-marble-garden-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}