Onyx Basin

Honey onyx is a translucent banded stone, cream and amber, with clouds and traces of darker vein. Light passes through it in proportion to its thickness, so the thin walls round the basin glow brightest and the solid corners stay darker, which draws the shape of the hollow on the outside of the box. The top is a single surface with the basin cut into it, and the walls below are the same stone, so the banding turns the corners without a joint.

The basin stands in a bathroom walled and floored in black marble with thin gold veins, so the one pale object in the room is the one that is lit. The black tap from the ceiling keeps the top clear, and the glow is the only light needed at night. It was made for a house where the bathroom is a dark room with a single bright thing in it.

The lighting inside is not drawn, because what is seen is the stone. The detail is the depth of the basin against the height of the box: the hollow is about a quarter of the height and the lit wall below it three quarters. That proportion is what makes the piece a column of light with a bowl in its top, and not a bowl on a lit stand.