The Duo – Set of 2 Alabaster Candle Holders

The Duo

Two candle holders sold together: an open cylinder and a round orb. They are different shapes on purpose. The cylinder throws light up and out of its open top, the orb holds it low and close, and side by side on a table they light a room from two heights rather than one.

They are cut from Egyptian alabaster, which is a calcite, not a gypsum. Geologically it is a banded travertine, laid down in layers by water moving through limestone caves, and that is where the horizontal stripes come from. Unlit, the stone looks pale and quiet. Put a tealight in and the wall goes amber. Bands you could not see before appear.

What you receive

One Vessel in size M and one Orb in size M, packed together. Buying them as the Duo costs less than buying the two separately.

How they are made

Each holder is carved from a single solid block. Nothing is cast or moulded, nothing bonded or machine-pressed. The stone sits at about 3 on the Mohs scale, soft enough to work with hand tools but harder than the gypsum that true alabaster refers to. Because every block is different, colour, veining and translucency vary. Your pair will not match the photograph exactly, and the two pieces will not match each other either. That is the material, not a fault.

Specifications

• Set: one cylinder holder (Vessel M) and one round orb holder (Orb M)
• Material: Egyptian alabaster (calcite, banded travertine)
• Hardness: about 3 Mohs
• Construction: each piece hand carved from one block
• Fits: a standard tealight in each piece. Tealights not included.
• Finish: translucent; glows amber when lit
• Variation: banding and colour differ from piece to piece

Where it comes from

Carved in Luxor, Upper Egypt. Most of the workshops sit on the west bank of the Nile, close to the tombs the stone was first quarried for. The stone 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.

We keep stock in Amsterdam and post from there. Nothing travels from Egypt to reach you. Inside the EU that means days rather than weeks, and no customs charge.

Care

Wipe with a soft dry cloth. Keep the stone away from standing water. No acidic or abrasive cleaners; it is a calcium-based stone and acid will etch the surface.