Localisation: Grounds of the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská Street – in the orchard behind the faculty building
“Little Knight” is a large, colourful outdoor sculpture. It represents a small human being with a sword, sitting on the back of an enormous green insect. The insect resembles a grasshopper or a bush-cricket. The whole has a fairy-tale, slightly humorous character. It is not a threatening scene. Rather, it is a meeting between a very small hero and a very large inhabitant of a meadow. The sculpture is located on the grounds of the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia, on Branišovská Street, behind the faculty building, in an orchard. It is made of crushed recycled glass bonded with resin. The sculpture, as the authors emphasise, paraphrases equestrian monuments of warriors, but here it is a tribute to childhood and courage.
The sculpture is larger than a human being. The insect itself is several metres long. Together with the base and the figure sitting on its back, it reaches about 2.5–3 metres in height. The composition is set on a large, low, oval base.
The base is light grey. It has an elongated shape and resembles a flattened boat or a broad plinth. Its sides are uneven, covered with horizontal, wavy lines. They look like layers of material applied one on top of another.
The main part of the sculpture is formed by the enormous insect. Its body is light green, in places yellowish. The surface is not smooth. It has a fine, grainy, slightly shiny texture. From close up, many small, light particles are visible in it. Thanks to this, the insect looks as if it were built from thousands of shimmering particles, rather than from a uniform mass.
The insect’s head is at the front. It is large, rounded and slightly inclined downwards. On the sides of the head, there are enormous, bulging eyes. They are red and burgundy, and made up of many rounded lumps. They resemble clusters of juicy fruit. The colour of the eyes strongly contrasts with the green of the body and immediately draws attention. Long, segmented antennae grow out of the head. They are green, thick and built from several rounded sections. They rise diagonally upwards and lean slightly backwards. They are not thin like those of a real insect. They look more like soft, oversized antennae.
The insect’s torso is massive and elongated. It consists of rounded segments. On the sides, folds, divisions and raised parts resembling a carapace are marked. The rear part of the body is long, segmented and narrows towards the end. The wings lie along the body, on the sides of the back. They have an elongated, slightly triangular shape. Their surface is covered with shallow lines and patterns resembling veining.
The legs are thick, strongly bent and set on the sides of the body. The front legs – there are four of them in total – rest close to the head. They have large, simplified feet ending in finger-like protrusions. The hind legs are much larger. Inside them, rhythmic, longitudinal grooves are visible.
On the insect’s back sits the titular knight. He is a small, naked figure of a young boy. The boy has neither armour nor a helmet, which, in the case of a knight, is quite a bold decision. The figure has a light, grey-beige colour, clearly different from the green body of the insect. He sits astride it, with one hand resting on the back of the bush-cricket. He stretches the other arm in front of him and holds a short, straight sword in it. The sword is straight, light-coloured and raised vertically. In combination with the enormous insect, it looks delicate, almost toy-like.
The knight is small and slender. His legs are bent, and his feet hang down on either side of the insect’s body. The torso leans slightly forwards. The head turns towards the sword. The hair is short, wavy, modelled in soft strands. The face has calm, focused features. The boy gives the impression of being eager for adventure and ready for a leap into the unknown.