{"product_id":"seated-winged-lion-on-a-capital-stone-statue-200cm","title":"Seated Winged Lion on a Capital Stone Statue - 200cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrontal and seated, a winged lion spreads both wings behind its shoulders and opens its jaws. Each wing is worked through tiered rows of feathers. The head is feline and maneless - a broad flat muzzle, an open jaw on the teeth, rounded ears - with a short ruff at the throat. No beak appears anywhere on it, so the beast is a winged lion rather than any kind of griffin. The chest is modelled in defined muscle and the tail curls up behind one haunch. Beneath is an ornate pedestal carved as an acanthus capital, with scrolled volutes at the corners and a rosette at its centre. The stone is a gold-beige, porous and open in texture, with cream through its raised passages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Capital That Has to Carry Something\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn acanthus capital on a column is decorative and carries only the weight above it in a straight line. This one carries a seated animal whose mass sits forward of centre, and the leaves and volutes are therefore doing structural work as well as visual. The corner volutes are left thicker than the pattern wants, the leaf tips are not undercut as deeply as they would be on a column head, and the abacus above them is cut as one continuous slab rather than following the scalloped line the style suggests. Every one of those decisions makes the capital slightly heavier-looking than a textbook example, and every one of them is the reason the animal can sit on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis stone is open-textured and the pitting is part of it, so it takes weathering as character rather than as damage - and it should never be sealed, because a sealant bridges the pores unevenly and leaves a patchy sheen that cannot be undone. Set it outdoors, in gravel or planting or on paving, and let it go. Frost is worth a thought: water sits in open stone, so a position that drains and dries is better than one that stays wet. At 200cm with the wings above the shoulders the beast reads from below, which suits a gate or a courtyard entrance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePorous Stone, and What Not to Do to It\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-one to twenty-three weeks. Carving the acanthus capital is the opening task, since the seated body has to be fitted down onto a finished volute. Volutes, leaves and rosette are all cut before the animal exists, because a capital cannot be reached once a body sits on it. The seated mass is then roughed on the finished abacus with both wings left as solid slabs behind the shoulders. Chest muscle is defined first, then the throat ruff undercut beneath the jaw. Haunch and tail follow. The wings are separated into feather rows late, both advancing together so they stay matched, and the ruff at the throat is undercut after them. The head is last. Cuts throughout are lighter and more numerous than marble would need, because a chisel driven into a void collapses the wall beside it. No pin, dowel or filler appears in either the seated beast or its carved capital. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops. Some 4,668kg between the beast and its capital, both craned down onto a poured concrete footing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRelated winged creatures perch in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and porous stone suits \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/outdoor-sculptures\"\u003eoutdoor 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\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 Stone\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53834315891035,"sku":"MST-ANI-060","price":30602.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-060_1.jpg?v=1787154667","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/seated-winged-lion-on-a-capital-stone-statue-200cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}