{"product_id":"rider-on-a-winged-horse-marble-statue-220cm","title":"Rider on a Winged Horse Marble Statue - 220cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA youth in a winged cap rides a winged horse, one hand at the bridle and the near foreleg raised. He sits bareback on a saddle-cloth, and his cap carries small wings at the temples. The horse's wings sweep back and up, tiered feather on feather, and clear the rider's shoulder. The horse's mane and tail are cut in flowing locks and the group stands on a carved rocky mound. Set into the front of the mound is a shaped shield charged with a heraldic device. Beside it lie a quiver of arrows and folded drapery. White marble with a faintly warm cream cast through figure, horse and mound alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eRider and Horse Set Out Together\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA figure on an animal is not a figure added to an animal. The two are set out on the block at the same time and from the same measurement, because the one thing that cannot be adjusted afterwards is where the rider's seat meets the horse's back. Get that a little wrong and every correction available makes something else worse: shorten the legs and he looks stunted, drop the seat and the horse loses its withers, raise the back and the barrel goes out of proportion. So the seat line is struck first, on the raw block, and both bodies are roughed down to it together over months. The rider's near arm reaching to the bridle is the last major cut and the most exposed - a thin span of stone bridging from shoulder to bit, with nothing beneath it, and it is left oversized until everything else on the group is finished.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the most complicated silhouette in the range and the one that gains most from being seen against nothing. At 220cm the rider is high overhead, so the group is composed to be looked up at. Rider, wings, raised foreleg and streaming tail all break the outline in different directions, and against planting or masonry they tangle into one another; against sky or water they separate and the group comes apart into its parts. So it belongs on a rise, at the end of an axis, on a bastion, or in the middle of a lawn wide enough to walk right round. Approach it from the near side, where the arm reaches to the bridle and the shield in the mound is visible at the same time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Group That Reads Against the Sky\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-eight to thirty weeks, the longest piece we make in this range. Setting out rider and horse together on one block comes first, so the seat and the shoulder agree from the start. The rocky mound is blocked solid, the seat line struck on the raw block above it, and horse and rider then roughed down to that line together. The horse's barrel and the rider's torso come first, the raised foreleg and both wings held as thick masses. The wings are thinned in alternation and their feather tiers cut from the shoulder outward. The shield, quiver and drapery in the mound are carved late, and the rider's reaching arm last of all. Rider, horse and mound are one block, with no pin, no dowel and no filler between them. Some 6,214kg all told, rider and horse as one, craned onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFigure groups are scarce among \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and classical subjects fill \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/classic-sculptures\"\u003eclassic 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\u003e220cm\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":53836687475035,"sku":"MST-ANI-116","price":38450.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-116_1.jpg?v=1787174882","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/rider-on-a-winged-horse-marble-statue-220cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}