Unique and stunning vase with a different tartan patterns on each of the four sides. Each side features it's own tartan pattern, just like the Scottish clans and regions have done for centuries. This vase is particularly demanding on Master Cutters, as they have to cut two sides on the vase by looking at the work from the side, and last fourth side has to be cut blind as the cuts already exist on other three sides. Getting the lines to match perfectly is extremely tough and only the best craftsmen are able to do this. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns. Tartan is made with alternating bands of colored (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over two under the warp, advancing one thread at each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colors cross, which give the appearance of new colors blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of color repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a set. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the highland tartans were associated with either regions or districts. Today the tartan patterns are specific to each Scottish clan. Handmade in Ireland.