With the possible exception of my bear and salmon commission in 2009, this is the largest, heaviest, and most detailed sculpture I have yet undertaken.

There is SO much work in everything you see: the panels of the shell, each individually shaped and grooved, which all had to fit together like a 3D jigsaw puzzle; and the beaten texture of the skin… I still feel the ache in my shoulders when I think of it. But he was worth it: this is what I set out to do, and I love the final, massive (105kg, 175cm long, 135cm wide) result.

He is fitted with two concealed tubes just under the shell, through which long poles will fit in order to carry him, but it takes four people.

£28,400