{"product_id":"standing-hippo-white-marble-statue-120cm","title":"Standing Hippo White Marble Statue - 120cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA hippopotamus stands foursquare, its head turned out and the muzzle broad and blunt. The nostrils are cut as shallow rings with a scatter of bristle pits across the muzzle, the small ears are pricked and the eyes set high in heavy folded lids. The body is a single deep barrel with the flank folds cut as broad soft grooves, the legs short and columnar. It stands on its own four feet - there is no base of any kind. White marble near neutral, strong grey veining branching across the whole barrel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eChoosing Which Face Becomes the Flank\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe vein network in this block is the boldest in the range - a branching grey web rather than a drift - and on an animal that is essentially one large smooth barrel it is going to be the first thing anyone sees. That makes it a decision rather than an accident. The block is wetted and read before any stone comes off, and the animal is oriented so that the strongest branching falls across the flank, where there is a broad continuous surface to carry it, rather than across the face, where a heavy vein through an eye or a nostril reads as a flaw. The busiest passages are steered into the haunch and the quietest reserved for the head. That orientation then fixes everything else about the carving.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo things make this piece easy to place. It has no plinth - it stands on its own four feet like a real animal - and at 80 per cent stone it is about as solid as marble carving gets, which means nothing on it is fragile. At 120cm the back comes to about waist height on someone standing beside it. So it can go where a more delicate piece could not: on grass, in a gravel bed, at a lawn edge, in a border, beside a pool, on paving, or indoors on a hall floor. It suits being come upon at close range, where the branching veins across the flank are the reward, and it needs no more than a prepared pad beneath it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eNo Base, and Very Nearly Solid\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen to sixteen weeks. Reading the vein network wet decides which face carries the flank, before any cutting. The animal is roughed standing in the block with the four legs left as heavy columns, the barrel brought down as one mass and the flank grooves cut broad and soft. The head follows, the folded eyelids and shallow nostril rings cut late. The bristle pits are punched at the end, and the four feet are freed last because there is no slab to protect them. One block throughout, unpinned and unfilled, and no base beneath it. Some 1,008kg standing on its own feet, gantry-set and bedded onto a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHeavy beasts stand within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and boldly veined stone in \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\u003e120cm\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":53840413786459,"sku":"MST-ANI-158","price":15296.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-158_1.jpg?v=1787215262","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/standing-hippo-white-marble-statue-120cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}