Penrose Antiques

Description

For sale we have a very hard to find highly decorative mid to late 19th century French faience inkstand/letter rack.

This large French faience inkstand is 11 inches (28cm)wide, 6 inches high (15cm). It is of a lobed oblong form with a scrolling three quarter gallery enclosing two graduated letter apertures on a base with a pen well flanked by loose inkwells and covers over a drawer to the base. The inkwell is beautifully decorated with scrolls, foliage, flowers and insects in vibrant yellows, blues, greens, manganese and orange on a white background. with stylised foliage and insects and scroll, marked in manganese. The base is marked with 438, an asterix in a right angle and what look like Chinoiserie styled character marks.

Large faience pieces like this are normally heavily chipped an damage. This example is quite different and is in a very good condition with very little damage other than a repair to the back, see picture 5, and a staple repair to one inkwell and also a chip to the lid of the same inkwells.

This French faience weighs just under 3.7Kg and boxed and packed for delivery will weigh in excess of 6kg. Thus it will have to be delivered by courier. For UK mainland buyers delivery for this inkstand will be included in the price. However, non-mainland UK buyers will need to contact us either by phone of by e-mail to agree delivery charges before placing an order.