"Tribute to Sir John Soane" is made from imperial porphyry quarried in Egypt. It pays homage to the great British architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837), who was also a collector of art and antiquities. One of his most famous purchases was the sarcophagus of Seti I, which was discovered in Egypt in 1817 by the Italian archaeologist Belzoni and is now in the Soane Museum in London. Cox's interest in Egyptian stone developed in the late 1980s, when he was invited by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to visit Egypt and make a sculpture for Cairo's new opera house.
