SouvNear Soapstone Sculpture of Mother Elephant with Baby Inside

This is an all-natural soapstone sculpture hand-carved by artisans in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, also famous for stone carving and inlay-work handicrafts. These arts have been practiced and handed down within artisan families since ancient Mughal times. The beauty of the detailed, intricate carving work is the reason for their immense popularity An intricately hand-carved elephant with another intricately hand-carved baby elephant inside!. The mother elephant figurine has been handmade in traditional Indian jali work or openwork carving (intricate latticework having a pattern of openings). The inner baby elephant is a solid stone carving The pachyderm looks majestic with a pair of carved rosettes on the head and intricate decoration adorning the head flowing down the trunk The sculpture has been painstakingly carved from a single block of stone. One wrong stroke and the openwork breaks... and the artisans need to discard the block and start all over again... Also, because these are handmade, no two stone sculptures are the same Dimensions: Length - 5 x Width - 3 x Height - 4.2 (Inches)