{"product_id":"seated-gorilla-black-marble-statue-200cm","title":"Seated Gorilla Black Marble Statue - 200cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gorilla sits forward on both knuckles, the head turned out under a heavy brow. The near leg is folded and the far leg extended. The face, the crest of the skull and both forearms are cut with combed hair while chest, shoulder and haunch are left broad and smooth. The stone is a near-black marble taken to a mirror, with white veining branching wide across it. No slab and no plinth: the animal sits on its own haunches and knuckles. Near-black marble, mirror-polished, with bold white veining branching right through it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePlacing the Veins Before Placing the Animal\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe white veining in this block is wide, branching and emphatic, and against a near-black mirror polish it is going to be the first thing anyone sees from across a courtyard - well before the gorilla is. That makes its placement a decision taken before the first cut. The block is wetted and read, and the animal is oriented so the boldest branching crosses the chest and shoulder, which are the broad smooth passages that can carry it, and away from the face, where a heavy white vein through an eye or a nostril reads as damage rather than as stone. The combed hair on face and forearms is then cut deliberately fine, so that the busy passages of the carving and the busy passages of the stone never coincide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA black polished animal does not catch light, it returns what is in front of it - put it in shade or against dark planting and you get an outline with nothing inside it; put pale render, gravel, water or sky behind it and the form comes back and the white veins catch fire. At 200cm the head sits well above the eye, which suits a seated figure this heavy. A pale forecourt, a gravel circle, a terrace above water. It has no base and sits directly on its haunches and knuckles, so a level prepared pad is all it needs. Keep it clear of overhanging trees: sap and leaf litter mark a mirror polish far more readily than matte stone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Mirror Needs Something to Reflect\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks, more than half of it polishing. Reading the white vein network wet decides which face carries the chest and shoulder. The animal is then roughed seated, the knuckles and haunches left as solid masses because they carry everything and there is no slab beneath. Chest, shoulder and haunch are brought down broad and smooth, the head and heavy brow after them. The combed hair on face and forearms is cut fine and late. The whole is then taken through the polishing grades. The whole animal is one piece of stone, unpinned, undowelled and unfilled. Some 4,668kg of dark stone, craned across onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrimates occupy a corner of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and polished dark stone \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\u003e200cm\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":53841766383963,"sku":"MST-ANI-169","price":30593.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-169_1.jpg?v=1787232282","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/seated-gorilla-black-marble-statue-200cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}