{"product_id":"standing-saddled-horse-white-marble-statue-190cm","title":"Standing Saddled Horse White Marble Statue - 190cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA horse stands head lowered and turned in, wearing a bridle and a girthed saddle. The mane is cut in tight crimped waves along the crest, the tail hangs long, and one foreleg is lifted and bent. A carved stump stands under the belly. It stands on a thin rectangular slab. White marble, smooth and matte, soft grey veining through barrel and saddle alike. The name given to us says granite; it is not, and the note below says how we know.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhy a Standing Horse Still Needs a Stump\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis animal has all four feet accounted for, so the stump under its belly looks like a convention borrowed from rearing figures. It is not. A horse at this scale carries a long unsupported span of stone between the forelegs and the hind, and the barrel above it is the heaviest part of the animal - marble sags at nothing, but it snaps, and a span like that is exactly where a crack starts. The stump is the mid-span support. It is set out and stood on the slab before the horse exists at all, which is an odd way to begin: the first shape brought to its finished section is a piece of tree, and the animal is then built around and above it. Getting its height wrong by even a centimetre means either a gap under the belly or a stump driven up into it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost large animal carving is composed to be looked up at, and rewards distance. This one argues the other way. At 190cm the withers are above the eye, though the lowered head brings the face down. The head is turned in as well as down, so the face is presented to someone standing beside the near shoulder rather than to the room at large - which makes it a piece for a path, a gateway, the edge of a terrace, anywhere people pass close by. The bridle and the girthed saddle are cut with enough depth to read at arm's length and are wasted at fifty paces. Keep the near side to the traffic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Lowered Head Brings the Face Within Reach\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks. Squaring the slab and standing the belly stump upon it opens the work, before the animal exists at all. The slab is dressed, the stump stood upon it and brought to its exact height, and only then is the animal roughed above. Barrel and haunches come first, the lifted foreleg held as a stub, the lowered head and turned neck cut once the mass behind them is settled. The crimped mane and the bridle and girth straps are laid out together so their lines agree, and cut late. Nothing in the animal is pinned or filled, and the belly stump is part of the block. Some 4,002kg in one piece, which needs a crane and a poured concrete footing beneath it. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarnessed animals stand among \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and garden-scale pieces in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/garden-statues\"\u003egarden 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\u003e190cm\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":53836658540891,"sku":"MST-ANI-099","price":25656.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-099_1.jpg?v=1787173463","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/standing-saddled-horse-white-marble-statue-190cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}