{"product_id":"seated-lion-patinated-cast-bronze-statue-180cm","title":"Seated Lion Patinated Cast Bronze Statue - 180cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSquare to the front on a shallow round disc, a lion sits with its mouth just parted. The mane falls in long combed waves either side of the face and down over the chest, the forelegs are straight with the paws set side by side, and the haunches are drawn under behind them. It stands on a low circular disc rather than a rectangular plinth. The metal is a patinated cast bronze, dark brown-black with green verdigris across the disc.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCast, Not Carved\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything else in this range is cut out of a block. This one was built up in wax, and the difference runs through the whole piece. A model is sculpted in clay, a mould taken from it, a wax skin cast inside that mould to the thickness the finished bronze will have, and the wax then burned out and replaced by metal. The consequence is that a bronze is HOLLOW - a shell of about six millimetres with an armature inside - and that is why it weighs a fifth of what a solid of the same size would. It also means the surface can carry a patina rather than a polish: the colour is a chemical reaction driven into the metal, and the green bloom on the disc is copper doing what copper does outdoors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA patina is not paint. It goes on changing outdoors, and the green verdigris already showing on the disc will spread and deepen over years - that is the material behaving correctly, not a fault developing. So it should not be lacquered, and it should not be scrubbed: both stop the process and leave a piece looking newer than it is. Set it outdoors and let it go, or bring it inside and it will stay much as it arrived. At 180cm the head arrives about level with an adult's, and the bronze rewards a close look. Bronze takes up heat in direct sun, which is worth knowing if it will be somewhere people touch it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Patina Is Alive and Should Be Left So\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks, and a bronze spends most of that out of the foundry. Wax and mould work precede any metal at all, and the pour itself is a single day inside a fortnight of preparation. The clay model is built and refined first, and it is the only stage at which the sculpture can still be changed. Moulds are then taken in sections, waxes cast and chased by hand where the seams fall, and the whole assembly invested in a ceramic shell before firing. The pour is quick and the work either side of it is not. After casting come the fettling of the sprues, the welding-up of the sections, the chasing of every joint until it cannot be found, and only then the patina, applied hot in successive washes and waxed back. Patina wear is left brightest along the raised locks, where a hand would touch it. Nothing is pinned or bolted: the figure and its disc are cast and joined by the founder. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCast metal work sits apart from the stone in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, with the heaviest pieces 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\u003e180cm\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 Cast Bronze\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53834964238683,"sku":"MST-ANI-066","price":25664.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-066_1.jpg?v=1787157048","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/seated-lion-patinated-cast-bronze-statue-180cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}