Our team were delighted to be involved in the carving of four stone lions for this prestigious project. Our customers were commissioned to design and produce an impressive obelisk with surrounding lion sculptures based on original work created by Canova in Italy in 1792.
We were asked to carve the 4 stone lions. Each lion weighs 12 tonnes, which are 60% bigger than the originals.
Initially it was necessary to create digital scans of the original lions at Chatsworth House, which incidentally have flat backs, and as the new sculptures were to be placed where they could be viewed from all sides it was necessary to recreate them in a suitable format.
Digital scans of the lions were delivered to Stoneworld masonry workshop, and then we programmed the new designs into the software our stone carving robot. The robotic carving arm then set to work carving each of the lion sculptures. Each lion was created from 5 blocks of Massangis limestone, taking approximately 7 weeks in the masonry workshop per lion, on the digital carving robot. After each section was completed they were sent on to our customers.
After delivery to our customers, the final few mm of stone was carved by hand, by their stonemasons. Finally the pieces were placed together to create the final installation. It has made a very impressive monument that we were very proud to be involved in.
In 2016, our masonry workshop was commended for the Technology Innovation Award by the Stone Federation Org, for our involvement in this project.
If you are interested in discussing a project, or how we can help you, please call us on 01844 279274 or email us at sales@stoneworld.co.uk and we will be happy to help.
