{"product_id":"sun-wukong-monkey-king-painted-marble-statue-150cm","title":"Sun Wukong Monkey King Painted Marble Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSun Wukong sits cross-legged, head bowed, his staff held across both knees. He wears lamellar armour with a wide belt, shoulder guards ending in beast-mask bosses and a petalled skirt frill, and the chest, shoulders and apron carry a dense rosette diaper. The hair rises from the crown in a flame. The staff has a chased ferrule at each end. He sits on a panelled pedestal on a stepped base. Marble under a full painted and gilded finish - white, gold, copper-brown and blue. The colour is laid on: the armour is painted, the borders and belt are gilded, and the face, ears and hands are painted a copper-brown. Only the pedestal is left as plain stone. It is a multicoloured finish in the proper sense - four colours over one figure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Second Trade, After the Carving\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe carving is finished before any colour goes near it, and then a different set of hands takes over. That order matters more than it sounds. A painted surface hides nothing and forgives nothing: a plane that is slightly off reads as a fault in the paint rather than in the stone, and gilding along an edge shows every wobble in that edge at three times the length. So the carving is taken further than a plain stone piece would need - arrises trued, the diaper set out and sunk to an even depth, the frill undercut - and only then sealed, painted in flat coats and gilded along the borders and the belt. The staff is finished separately in a bright metallic and set last.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the only fully painted and gilded piece in the range, and it wants treating as painted work rather than as stone. At 150cm on its pedestal the bowed head comes to about chest height. Indoors it will hold as it is for years: a hall, a stair landing, a wide window bay, a lit alcove. Outdoors is a different question - sun fades pigment, frost lifts it off a wet surface, and gilding on an exposed edge goes first. If it goes outside it wants shelter, and it wants looking at once a year. None of that is a defect in the piece; it is what a painted finish is.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePaint Is Not Stone, and It Wears\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks, and about a third of that is finishing. Painting and gilding a finished carving is a second trade after the first is done. The pedestal and stepped base are dressed first and proved level. The figure is roughed seated, the crossed legs and the mass of the armour left heavy, then the armour plates, belt, frill and shoulder bosses are cut and the rosette diaper set out and sunk. The head and the flame of hair come last in stone. Then the surface is sealed, painted and gilded, and the staff set in. Figure and pedestal are one piece of stone beneath the paint, with no pin in it. Some 1,969kg with the pedestal, craned across and bedded onto a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePainted work is unusual across \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and seated figures fill \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\u003e150cm\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":53851578007899,"sku":"MST-ANI-149","price":22249.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-149_1.jpg?v=1787301584","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/sun-wukong-monkey-king-painted-marble-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}