Mosaic Cube Trio M, L & XL

Mosaic Cube Trio, M, L and XL

Three mosaic cube lamps sold as one set: the medium, the large and the extra large. It is the biggest grouping we do, and the price for the three together is lower than buying them separately.

Unlike most of what we sell, these are not carved from a single block. Each cube is built up from dozens of small Egyptian alabaster tiles, cut by hand in Luxor and set edge to edge, so the light escapes through the tiles and along every seam between them. Nothing is cast or glued together. Off, the stone is a pale cream, with the mosaic pattern worked across the faces. On, it is a different object. The bulb lights the stone wall from inside and the whole cube glows amber, and horizontal bands you could not see in daylight come up through the surface. The three sizes lit side by side on a sideboard will not match each other. They were never going to. Every block leaves the quarry with its own colour and veining, and the cube you unpack will differ a little from the photograph.

Where it comes from

The cubes are made in Luxor, in Upper Egypt. Most of the workshops are on the west bank of the Nile, close to the tombs the stone was first cut for. The material has been quarried in Egypt since antiquity, from sites in the region around Luxor and in Middle Egypt, among them Hatnub, Wadi Gerrawi and Wadi el-Assiuti, several of which were worked as far back as the Predynastic period. The stone itself is not gypsum alabaster but calcite, a banded travertine laid down by water moving through limestone caves. That is where the banding comes from. At around 3 on the Mohs scale it is soft enough to shape with hand tools.

We keep the sets in Amsterdam and post them from here. Nothing is shipped from Egypt to order, so delivery is a matter of days, with no customs charge inside the EU.

Specifications

• Set: three cube lamps, sizes M, L and XL
• Material: Egyptian alabaster (calcite), each cube built from hand-cut tiles
• Origin: hand-made in Luxor, Egypt
• Bulb: E27 fitting. Bulb not included.
• Dispatch: from stock in Amsterdam
• Variation: colour, veining and translucency differ block to block

Care

Dust with a soft dry cloth. Keep it away from standing water and never use acidic or abrasive cleaners; the stone is calcium-based and acid will etch it.