The Sphere

A stone ball with a bulb inside

The Sphere is a table lamp. A polished ball of Egyptian alabaster sits on a turned pine disc, and an E27 bulb inside the stone does the lighting. Switch it on and the whole ball glows amber. Because the surface is polished rather than frosted, the banding shows sharply: concentric rings and swirls of cream, honey and amber, laid down in layers by water moving through limestone caves.

The sphere is stone. Everything below it is wood. The pedestal is a separate turned pine disc, and the two parts simply sit together.

Each ball is carved from a single solid block. Nothing is cast, moulded or pressed. No two come out the same, so the colour and veining on yours will differ from the photograph.

If you already have The Orb, this is its bigger sibling. Same spherical form, different job. The Orb is an open-topped tealight holder; this one is an alabaster lamp wired for the mains.

Sizes

Diameters are estimated from a reference photograph, not measured. Treat them as approximate.

• S roughly 10 cm across
• M roughly 12 cm
• L roughly 15 cm
• XL roughly 20 cm

Specifications

• Material: Egyptian alabaster (banded calcite), hand carved and polished
• Base: turned pine disc
• Power: mains electric, E27 fitting
• Bulb: not included. Takes a standard E27
• Hardness: about 3 on the Mohs scale, so it will mark if knocked
• Care: wipe with a soft dry cloth. No acidic or abrasive cleaners; the stone is calcium based and acid etches it. Keep it away from prolonged water.

Where it comes from

The stone has been quarried in Egypt since antiquity, from sites around Luxor and in Middle Egypt. Hatnub, Wadi Gerrawi and Wadi el-Assiuti are three of them, and several were being worked in the Predynastic period. To a geologist it is calcite, not the gypsum the word alabaster strictly refers to, but the name has held for a few thousand years.

The carving happens in Luxor, mostly in workshops on the west bank of the Nile, close to the tombs the stone was first cut for.

We keep stock in Amsterdam and post from there. Days, not weeks. No customs charge inside the EU.