{"product_id":"roaring-lion-with-a-looped-tail-marble-statue-120cm","title":"Roaring Lion With a Looped Tail Marble Statue - 120cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA lion stands roaring with its head turned hard to one side, jaws open and the tongue cut inside the mouth. The mane falls in long combed locks over the shoulders and the ribs and flank muscles are modelled through the coat. Behind the haunch the tail sweeps up into a tall open loop that stands clear of the body. The beige marble is polished to a gloss, with cream veining running through the mane, and the animal stands on an irregular slab whose edge is cut in a shallow wave rather than squared off.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThe Looped Tail Is the Difficult Part\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything else on this lion is carved into the mass. The tail is carved out of it. It leaves the haunch, rises, curves over and comes back down, and for that whole length it is a bridge of stone with nothing but air on either side of it. A bridge is the one shape in carving that cannot be repaired if it goes, because there is no material behind it to cut back into. So the loop is left as a solid web of waste stone until the body, mane and head are finished and the piece is stable on its slab, and only then is the waste taken out from both faces at once, a little from each side in turn, so the web never carries a one-sided load. The polish goes on afterwards, by hand, because a machine head cannot get inside the curve.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe slab is cut with a soft wavy edge instead of a straight one, which means this lion does not need a formal setting to look finished - it can sit straight onto paving, gravel or a mown edge and the base reads as part of the piece rather than as a plinth waiting for one. At 120cm at the shoulder it meets an adult at chest height, so put it where people pass close: beside a drive, at the turn of a path, or on a terrace where the turned head can face the approach. The gloss finish holds rain in beads and looks best where some light reaches it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Wave-Cut Slab and Where It Sits\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen to twelve weeks. The slab is cut and levelled first, then the lion is roughed standing on it from the same block, so at no point is the animal separate from its base or resting on anything temporary. The head is turned early, while there is still spare stone at the neck to allow the angle to be adjusted. Ribs and flank come next, then the mane, worked from the outer locks inward so the finished ones are never leaned on. The tail loop is released last, from both sides alternately. Polishing is a separate stage again and takes the better part of a fortnight on its own, because the whole surface is brought up by hand rather than buffed. Nothing on the piece is pinned, filled or joined - lion, tail and slab all come out of one block. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops. Around 1,008kg as a single block, which a compact gantry will place onto a prepared concrete footing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore standing beasts are in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and the polished stone under \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":53832724349275,"sku":"MST-ANI-017","price":23716.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-017_1.jpg?v=1787147748","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/roaring-lion-with-a-looped-tail-marble-statue-120cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}