{"product_id":"snake-and-tortoise-marble-statue-250cm","title":"Snake and Tortoise Marble Statue - 250cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA snake and a tortoise are carved entwined, both heads raised and the shell panelled. The tortoise sits low, its domed shell cut in large panelled plates and banded round the rim with a Greek key, its head raised and turned up and its blunt feet planted on carved rockwork. The snake coils over the dome, under the near flank and out behind, its body in a fine hexagonal scale pattern, its head high at the centre with the jaws parted and a curled crest lifting behind. The whole stands on an oval plinth banded with a Greek key. White marble near neutral in both creatures, grey veining stronger in rockwork and plinth. The name we were given calls this a dragon; it is not, and the note below says why.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThreading a Body Through a Shell\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe snake does not lie on the tortoise, it passes through the space around it - over the dome, down under the near flank, out behind and up again - which means the finished piece contains several enclosed voids with stone on every side. Those are the difficulty, and they are the reason the whole composition is fixed on the raw block and never revised: by the time the coil is roughed there is no way to alter where it crosses. The voids are opened early, while both creatures are still oversized and can survive a tool working in a space too tight to see into, and each is finished blind by feel. Only afterwards are the shell plates, the scales and the Greek key bands brought to their final section, working outward from between the two animals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis piece has two focal points at two heights, and they want different things. At 250cm the snake's head is high above the eye and the shell sits at the waist. The snake's head, high and jaws parted, reads across a courtyard and makes the silhouette. The shell - panelled plates, a Greek key round the rim, the tortoise's own raised head - is close work that means nothing at distance. So the position to look for is one that offers both: seen first from across a space, then walked up to. A courtyard, a forecourt, the centre of a lawn with a path to it, the head of steps. Light from the side rather than the front, so the voids where the snake passes through read as air.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eTwo Heads, Two Distances\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-six to twenty-eight weeks. Threading the snake's body through the shell is planned on the block and never revised. The plinth is dressed and both creatures set out on the raw block together. The tortoise is blocked as a solid dome and the snake's coil roughed over and around it, with every enclosed void opened early while both are still oversized. Those inner surfaces are finished by feel. The shell plates, the hexagonal scales and both Greek key bands are cut afterwards, working outward, and the snake's raised head and curled crest are freed last. Snake, tortoise and plinth are one block, with no pin and no filler at all. Some 9,118kg for both creatures, craned in two lifts onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEastern pairings sit apart in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and traditional carving in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/classic-sculptures\"\u003eclassic 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\u003e250cm\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":53837359186267,"sku":"MST-ANI-156","price":29550.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-156_1.jpg?v=1787182811","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/snake-and-tortoise-marble-statue-250cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}