{"product_id":"sailfish-on-a-wave-marble-statue-200cm","title":"Sailfish on a Wave Marble Statue - 200cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA sailfish rises almost vertically from carved water, its long bill pointing up. The sail dorsal fin is raised and fully fanned behind the head - a great combed screen of stone with every ray cut as a separate quill - and the pectoral fins are spread and combed the same way. The body is smooth and streamlined and the tail drops back into the water, which is cut as a smooth swept form with a single sharp crest rather than as breaking foam. White marble crossed throughout by blue veining - not grey - in fine branching threads.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Sail Set Out From One Root\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe raised sail is most of this carving and all of its difficulty. Every ray springs from a single root along the back and fans outward, which means the whole screen is a radial arrangement - and the eye reads radial work with extraordinary precision. One ray a degree out of true, or a hand's width longer than the ray beside it, and the fan looks buckled rather than spread. So the root line is struck first, the ray positions stepped off along it, and each ray is scribed from that root outward before any stone is removed. They are then cut in opposed pairs from the centre out, so left and right are always worked in the same session and can be compared as they go. The webbing between rays is hollowed last.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe stone in this piece is unusual in the range: the veining is genuinely BLUE rather than grey - a fine branching network of cool threads through an otherwise neutral white - and it is a quiet effect that needs the right conditions to be seen at all. At 200cm the bill tip goes well overhead and the sail fills the space beneath it. It shows best in cool even daylight and against a neutral background; warm evening light kills it, and so does a background of foliage. So a north-facing terrace, a courtyard, a pale paved surround or a position near water suits it far better than a sunny border. And keep it within a few paces of where people walk, because at distance the veins vanish and the piece reads as plain white.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eBlue Veining, and What Shows It\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty to twenty-two weeks. Setting out the sail's rays from a single root keeps the fan from buckling as it opens. The swept wave form is blocked as one solid mass and the fish roughed rising almost vertically from it. The body is brought down smooth and streamlined, then the sail's root line struck along the back and every ray scribed from it before stone is removed. The rays are cut in opposed pairs from the centre outward and the webbing hollowed between them. The bill is left oversized until the very end. Nothing in fish, sail or wave is pinned, dowelled or filled - one stone. Some 4,668kg for fish and wave, craned upright onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBillfish are rare within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and the tallest of them under \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/large-garden-statues\"\u003elarge garden statues\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\u003e200cm\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":53840420471131,"sku":"MST-ANI-165","price":30593.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-165_1.jpg?v=1787215271","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/sailfish-on-a-wave-marble-statue-200cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}