{"product_id":"three-stacked-turtles-granite-statue-150cm","title":"Three Stacked Turtles Granite Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree tortoises are stacked in three tiers, each standing on the shell of the one beneath. The lowest carries the second, the second carries the third, and each head is turned a different way - the lowest out to one side, the second out to the other, the topmost to the front with its forelimbs braced. Each shell is a broad domed disc incised with concentric geometric scute panels; each head is blunt with heavy folded lids. All three animals are one piece and all three are included. No slab under the lowest animal - it stands on its own four feet and carries the other two. Pinkish-buff granite in the bodies, densely speckled, and a smooth grey-green stone in the shells. The whole piece is near-neutral: a beige tint in the granite bodies and a green one in the shells, neither of them strong. The bodies and the shells are not the same stone, and the note below says which is which.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eTwo Stones, and Which Gets Cut First\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis piece is worked in two materials, and that fixes the order of everything. The bodies are granite - diamond tooling, run wet, several times slower per centimetre than marble - and the shells are a softer, finer stone that cuts quickly and bruises easily. Doing the soft work first would be a mistake: the granite that remains would have to be cut with a diamond head running within inches of three finished shells, and a slip there cannot be undone. So the granite is brought to its finish first, over months, while the shells are still oversized blocks acting as their own protection - and only when nothing hard remains to be done are the shells dressed down, domed, and their scute panels incised.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree animals at three heights is unusual in this range: most pieces have one focal point, and this has a head near the foot, a head at the middle and a head at the top. At 150cm the topmost head comes near chest height and the lowest sits at the ankle. That makes it a piece to be walked up to rather than viewed from a distance, because the three faces only work in sequence. A lawn, a wide terrace, a gravel bed, a courtyard floor, the inside of a turning circle. Granite is the most weather-resistant stone we work, so an exposed position costs it nothing, and the incised scute panels hold their crispness far longer in it than they would in marble. It carries no slab of its own: the lowest animal takes the whole load through its own four feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Stack Read From Three Heights\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks, and the granite sets the pace. Working two stones in one piece means the softer shells wait until the granite is done. All three animals are set out on the raw block together, since none can be moved once the stack is roughed. The granite bodies - heads, necks and limbs - are taken to their finish first with diamond tooling run wet, the shells left as oversized blocks that protect themselves. The shells are then dressed, domed and incised with their scute panels. All three animals are one piece, with no pin, no dowel and no filler between them. Some 1,969kg for all three, 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\u003eStacked groups are rare in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and speckled stone sits among \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\u003e150cm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHand-Carved Natural Granite\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53843255427419,"sku":"MST-ANI-177","price":22249.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-177_1.jpg?v=1787234859","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/three-stacked-turtles-granite-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}