Every stone. A story of Egypt.

Deep colour and a fine, speckled grain give black granite its quiet presence. In ancient Egypt, the Aswan region supplied dark granodiorite, often called black granite, for royal and sacred sculpture.

Pharaohs chose enduring stone for images that would stand in temples for generations. The dark portion of Ramesses II’s great two-tone statue may evoke the fertile black earth left by the Nile—a connection to renewal and life.

The warm pink and red granite of Aswan helped shape some of ancient Egypt’s most commanding royal monuments. Its crystalline grain gives a carved surface colour and depth.

At the Ramesseum, sculptors positioned Ramesses II’s face in the pink part of a single block, above a darker body. The British Museum connects this rosy stone with solar associations: a fitting choice for a king presented with divine authority.

Bands of honey, sandy orange and creamy white make Egyptian alabaster instantly recognisable. This translucent calcite stone, also called travertine, was quarried in Middle Egypt; Hatnub, near Amarna, was one of its great ancient sources.

Ancient craftspeople shaped it into vessels, statues, altars and even sarcophagi. More than a hundred alabaster vessels from beneath Djoser’s Step Pyramid carry inscriptions naming Hatnub.

Its luminous colour gave it an association with purity, bringing a special presence to sacred spaces and objects made for the afterlife.

MarMar is the name we use for the bright white, crystalline alabaster in our collection. Its snowy appearance gives carving a very different character from the honey-coloured, banded Egyptian alabaster shown above.

The wider story of alabaster in Egypt leads back to places such as Hatnub, where ancient carvers sourced stone for vessels and monumental sculpture. Pale alabaster also belonged in temples and funerary settings, where its colour was associated with purity.

Here, that love of luminous stone continues in the hands of today’s Egyptian carvers.

Dark and close-grained, basalt has a long place in Egypt’s sacred architecture. Ancient quarry workers extracted it at Widan el-Faras, north of the Fayoum, and transported it towards the Nile.

In the Old Kingdom it paved mortuary temples at Giza and Abusir, forming part of the royal complexes devoted to the king’s afterlife. That setting gives basalt a powerful historical connection to remembrance and enduring royal presence.

In a smaller carving, its dark surface draws attention to the silhouette and the details caught by the light.

Limestone runs through the landscape and the art of ancient Egypt. It was quarried in many places, with the fine pale stone of Tura, near modern Cairo, especially well known.

Artists used it for statues, carved stelae and vessels, while builders made it a mainstay of temples. Its workable surface welcomed delicate faces, crisp hieroglyphs and painted details.

In offering chapels, limestone images and inscriptions helped preserve a person’s name and place in ritual life. Today its gentle tones let the carving itself take centre stage.

Also known as steatite, soapstone is soft to carve and has the smooth feel that gives it its everyday name. Egypt’s Eastern Desert holds deposits; an ancient quarry at Wadi Sikait was used in the Roman period.

Long before that, Egyptian craftspeople worked steatite into finely detailed scarabs and seals, often glazing and firing them. These small objects could carry names, royal titles or sacred designs.

The scarab’s meaning came from Khepri and the daily rebirth of the sun. In this tradition, a tiny carved object could hold a story of renewal and protection.

Our makers place limestone in a kiln to change its appearance. Heat can alter the stone’s natural mineral pigments and organic matter, bringing out different tones depending on the limestone and how it is fired.

The stone itself has deep Egyptian roots: limestone was quarried widely, with the fine pale stone of Tura particularly prized. Ancient artists used it for statues, carved stelae and temples.

Today’s fired limestone pieces carry that sculptural heritage into the present, giving familiar royal and sacred forms another expression through the colour of the stone.

Cold cast bronze uses bronze powder with resin to capture fine sculptural detail and a rich metallic surface. It is a modern way to bring the look of bronze into intricate statues.

Its inspiration reaches back to Egypt’s copper-alloy sculpture. Ancient metalworkers cast royal figures such as Thutmose III in bronze; his small ritual statue was designed for a ceremonial setting.

Contemporary figures draw on that tradition of expressive poses, ornate crowns and carefully modelled symbols.

Pewter is a tin-based metal that suits small cast figures and fine detail. In our collection it often appears with painted accents or a warm gold finish.

These are modern interpretations of Egyptian imagery: a miniature Anubis, a protective cobra or a familiar royal headdress. Their connection to antiquity is in the figures and symbols they celebrate.