{"product_id":"seated-winged-lion-in-black-marble-statue-220cm","title":"Seated Winged Lion in Black Marble Statue - 220cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeated on a fluted pedestal, a winged lion turns its head outward and opens its jaws. A single wing lifts from the shoulder and folds back across the body in stepped rows of feathers. The head is feline - a blunt muzzle, rounded ears, no beak - so this is a winged lion and not a griffin. Beneath it a rectangular pedestal is cut in shallow vertical fluting over a stepped base. Two tones of one family: a near-black marble animal above a paler grey-white pedestal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eFlutes Before Anything Else\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA flute is a shallow concave channel, and a run of them has to be even in width, in depth and in spacing or the eye finds the odd one immediately. They are also completely unreachable once a seated animal stands on top of the pedestal, so they cannot be left until later and they cannot be corrected afterwards. The run is therefore set out with dividers on all four faces before a chisel touches the stone, adjusted until the same whole number fits each face, and then cut with a template drawn along the length rather than judged by eye. On a dark stone this matters more, not less: black marble gives almost no surface information, so a flute is read purely by the line of shadow inside it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe two stones here do the work between them - a near-black animal reads as a silhouette and the paler pedestal separates it from whatever is behind. That means the background matters less than it usually would, and the piece will hold up against planting, brick or render alike. What it cannot take is a dark background at both ends: against a yew hedge the animal disappears and only the pedestal is left. At 220cm the beast sits far above an adult, and is composed to be looked up at. Black marble takes up heat in sun and shows water marks, so a position that drains and dries suits it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Dark Animal on a Pale Base\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty to twenty-two weeks. Fluting the pedestal faces opens the work, since a run of flutes cannot be reached once a beast sits above it. The courses are dressed, the flutes run and the bed proved flat before the animal exists. The beast is then carved from its own darker block: roughed seated, the wing blocked as a solid mass off the shoulder and kept that way through the body work, then haunch and flank brought in. The wing is separated into feather rows late, trailing edge first. Head and open jaw come last of the animal. No pins and no fillers go into the beast; animal and pedestal are bedded, not glued. About 6,214kg for animal and pedestal together, craned in courses onto a poured concrete footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDark stone beasts are rare through \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and pieces at this scale sit in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/life-size-large-statues\"\u003elife size large 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\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":53835194532187,"sku":"MST-ANI-076","price":31576.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-076_1.jpg?v=1787158460","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/seated-winged-lion-in-black-marble-statue-220cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}