Statue

Item classes
" Amulets	[ Armor
% Comestibles	$ Coins
* Gems	! Potions
= Rings	? Scrolls
+ Spellbooks	` Statues
( Tools	` Boulders
) Weapons	/ Wands

`
Name	statue of a foo
Appearance	statue of a foo
Base price	0 zm
Weight	varies

Statues are represented on screen by the ` character. The weight of the statue varies, depending on which monster it is a statue of. Statues should not be confused with figurines.

Statue Contents

When a monster is turned to stone, usually by a cockatrice, its inventory becomes the statue contents. There are also randomly-generated statues, and it's also possible for them to contain objects; on lower levels the contents are usually spellbooks. The Oracle level always contains 8 centaur statues, which are an excellent spot to hunt for books. (More info)

The contents of the statue can be retrieved by either smashing it apart, or by using a stone to flesh spell to convert it to a living being, whereupon the contents will become the monster's inventory. Monsters which are not made of meat, such as lichens, will instead turn into meatballs. Statues can be broken by the usual methods, including force bolt, wand of striking, pick axe, and so on. A stone-to-fleshed monster can, of course, be killed in a wide variety of ways.

Statues can be polymorphed into other kinds of statues or into boulders, but any contents will be destroyed if it is transformed into a boulder. You can use a wand of probing to scan for useful items beforehand.

Medusa's lair contains a number of statues, often with contents. A statue of Perseus is particularly worth a look.

Insubstantial monsters such as air elementals cannot leave statues. It is possible to wish for one, but this is pointless as it will be empty and will not turn into an air elemental upon casting stone to flesh. A stone golem will leave a statue behind if you kill it; if you stone to flesh this statue, you will instead get a flesh golem.

Statue Traps

Statue traps are indistinguishable from regular statues unless you have the searching intrinsic or apply a stethoscope to one, and will turn into the appropriate type of monster when you try to move into their square or disturb them in any other way.

Archeologists should beware of breaking or animating "historic" statues, as this incurs a -1 alignment penalty. Historic statues include the statues of the gnome king in Grotto Town, the centaur statues around the Oracle, the statue of Perseus, and any petrified unique monsters.

Encyclopaedia entry

Then at last he began to wonder why the lion was standing so
still - for it hadn't moved one inch since he first set eyes
on it.  Edmund now ventured a little nearer, still keeping in
the shadow of the arch as much as he could.  He now saw from
the way the lion was standing that it couldn't have been
looking at him at all.  ("But supposing it turns its head?"
thought Edmund.)  In fact it was staring at something else -
namely a little dwarf who stood with his back to it about
four feet away.  "Aha!" thought Edmund.  "When it springs at
the dwarf then will be my chance to escape."  But still the
lion never moved, nor did the dwarf.  And now at last Edmund
remembered what the others had said about the White Witch
turning people into stone.  Perhaps this was only a stone
lion.  And as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that
the lion's back and the top of its head were covered with
snow.  Of course it must be only a statue!
        [ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis ]