{"product_id":"winged-lion-on-a-greek-key-plinth-marble-statue-220cm","title":"Winged Lion on a Greek Key Plinth Marble Statue - 220cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA winged lion sits back on its haunches, jaws open on bared fangs and one forepaw forward. The tail curls up over the flank and both wings sweep back and up from the shoulders in long tiered rows of feathers. It sits on a stepped plinth whose die carries a continuous Greek key band. White marble close to neutral, soft grey veining through haunch, wing and plinth. The name we were given calls this a griffin; the head is a lion's, and the note below says how we read it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Greek Key That Has to Close\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Greek key is a fret that runs continuously round all four faces of the plinth die, and the test of whether it was set out properly is what happens at the last corner. If the arithmetic was right the pattern arrives back at its start with a whole unit; if it was not, the final unit is a fraction and the eye finds it instantly, because a fret is nothing but repetition and a broken repetition is all anyone sees. So the four faces are dressed dead true and dead square first, the whole perimeter is measured as one length, and the unit is divided into it so the count comes out whole - and only then is a single cut made. Let any face go the least bit off square and there is no division that will work, since the perimeter is then not the figure the arithmetic was done on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA seated winged beast is a guardian figure and it belongs at a threshold: gate piers, either side of an entrance, the foot of a flight, or set at either end of a balustrade. Two of them facing each other is what the pose expects, and the decision is easier taken now than after the first has arrived. At 220cm the wings go far overhead and the Greek key band sits at about knee height. The two are at opposite ends of the piece and want different distances - the wings are read from across a courtyard, the fret from a pace away as you pass the plinth. A position that gives both is one you approach from a distance and then walk close by. Vertical wings want clear air with nothing overhanging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Threshold Beast at Height\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-two to twenty-four weeks. Setting out the Greek key so it closes with a whole unit at the corner precedes any carving above. The four faces are dressed true, the perimeter measured and the fret divided to close with a whole unit, and the band cut. The beast is roughed above it, the seated haunches and body first, both wings held as thick slabs and thinned in alternation so the shoulders never carry one finished wing and one heavy one. The mane is undercut late, the open jaws and fangs later still, and the curled tail freed last. Beast, wings and plinth take no pin and no filler, each course bedded dry. Some 6,214kg for beast and plinth, craned in courses onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuardian beasts recur throughout \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and gateway work belongs 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\u003e220cm\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":53837120667995,"sku":"MST-ANI-129","price":29202.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-129_1.jpg?v=1787179056","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/winged-lion-on-a-greek-key-plinth-marble-statue-220cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}