This ink-tray, conceived in the French antique style, comprises a Grecian pedestal-supported ewer for the quill-pen, while the seals are guarded by a faithful hound in the Egyptian manner. It is almost identical to one that was made by the jeweller, Thomas Weeks (d. 1834) who established a 'Royal Mechanical Museum' or emporium in Tichbourne Street during the early 19th Century. The Weeks inkstand, signed on the tree-stump, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 17 April 1997, lot 2. Another very similar inkwell, with a white marble base, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 July 1991, lot 25.