Dreadnought, Problems of History (search for the hidden stone), 1990-2004, Imperial porphyry
One of the most important events in Cox’s career was his encounter with the mysteries of Egyptian Imperial porphyry. In 1989, an expedition to the ancient quarry at Mons Porphyrites in Egypt’s Eastern Desert led him to this stone - once regarded as the exclusive preserve of the Roman Emperor - which he was granted the privilege to quarry for his own work. Dreadnought is an acknowledgement of the history of this extraordinary purple stone, the hardest in the world which also fascinated and challenged Renaissance artists. This piece has been in progress for 15 years but in many ways is much older: it is effectively a collaboration between Stephen Cox and the unknown Roman stone quarrymen who had started preparing this 3 ton lump more that 1,500 years ago. In the manner of a search for a hidden core, Cox continued his predecessor’s work by hewing out softer bits of rock, shaping and polishing it to expose more of the precious purple porphyry. A piece similar in scale, Chrysalis, which was aquired by the Tate, references mummification and re-birth.