The
Dove
One bird, carved from a single block of white marble, standing in the still water of a palace spa. About 300 kilograms of stone that reads as weightless.
Still Water, One White Bird
The spa pool is the quietest room in the palace. It needed one thing to look at. The client asked for a dove: white, calm, turned slightly as if it had just landed. We carved it from a single block, polished it to hold the light off the water, and set it on a carved plinth in the pool itself.
Nothing on the surface but stone and water. Everything else — the fixing, the plinth, the plate under the tile — is out of sight.
Scope of Work
- Form study & approval model
- Block selection, single white marble block
- Hand carving, feathers to the beak
- Wet polish, sealed for pool water
- Carved plinth with concealed fixing
- Delivery & setting in the pool
From above — one bird, one plinth, green mosaic
What the Water Doesn’t Show
A bird this smooth starts as a block heavier than a car, and ends as a surface you can’t find a tool mark on.
The Block
One clean white block, chosen for even colour and no open veins through the neck — the thinnest part of the piece, and the part that has to carry the head.
The Carving
Roughed by saw, then taken down by hand: body first, then the wings, then the neck last so it is never at risk while the heavier work is done.
The Feathers
Each feather cut with a fine chisel and softened by hand, so they read from across the pool but never catch the eye up close.
The Plinth & Fixing
A carved marble plinth with a stainless pin down into a plate under the pool tile. Polished, then sealed for constant water contact.
Cut. Carved. Polished.
From a wet saw to a fine chisel to a slow, wet polish.
The block, cut wet
Feathers by chisel
Polished by handFrom the Block to the Pool
The Numbers
Dimensions are as-built approximations for this commission; every piece is sized to its site.
The Head, The Surface
The headThe surface
Something Quiet for the Water?
Tell us about the pool. We carve to fit.
Some images and details on this page have been gently altered to protect our client’s privacy.
