Thomas Engelhart Blue Azurite Box

Azurite was a stone found in the Sinai Peninsula that was used as a pigment first by the ancient Egyptians, who ground it into a fine powder for painting and cosmetics (including their famous blue eye makeup!). This box is wrapped in paper hand-painted to resemble the ancient blue stone–all the better for hiding away ugly modernities like a remote control.

Thomas Engelhart references the angles and polished surfaces of ancient artifacts in his hand-painted paper creations. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, he now lives and works in New York City. The faceted shapes, jewel tones and marbleized, speckled and malachite finishes of his objects are modern-day echoes of ancient porphyry and hardstone pieces. He precisely trims to shape and paints his papers, which then are delicately applied to hand sculpted boxes, tabletops, or mirrors of his own design.

H 8.5in, W 9.5in, D 5.5in