Me and my partner are in the process of constructing our dream study/library room, and, of course, the biggest part of this is the bookcases. The bookcases will go from the floor to approx. 30cm below the ceiling. Our idea was to categorise the bookcases by genre - WW1/2, prehistory, travel, Russian history, natural sciences, biology, fiction, arts, etc. - and then, atop each catagory of bookcase, have a bust of a person or animal that exemplifies that category.

So, with this idea in mind... how do we do this? The busts will ideally be heavy (or at least heavy enough so as to remain stable), look good enough when lit by warm light, have the appearance of a classical white marble bust, and be detailed enough that it'll be identifiable as whatever it is meant to be.

We've never tried anything like this before, and have had a few ideas but we don't know if they'd work! So any ideas, help, references, or guidance would be appreciated, we want to do these ourselves and do not mind about how time consuming the process will be.

[Edit] I should also say that these will be out of reach of people, so are only visible from a distance. So with this in mind texture isn't important.