BY THE WEEKS MUSEUM, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

細節

A REGENCY ORMOLU INKSTAND
BY THE WEEKS MUSEUM, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Of rectangular form with two reeded campana urns with pierced fretted trefoil, on lion monopodia and foliate-studded square plinths, around a circular ring, each long side with two dished pen-trays above a milled frieze enclosing a mahogany-lined drawer with lion's head handle, each corner with a sphinx supporter, inscribed 'Weeks's Rt Museum Titchborne St'
7 in. (18 cm.) high; 18 in. (45.5 cm.) wide; 11 in. (28 cm.) deep

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品專文

The ormolu-enriched pen-tray is conceived in the French antique Egyptian fashion. A ring-bearing Egyptian lion head is ribbon-tied to the chest, whose Grecian-stepped plinth is guarded by sphinx; while its 'krater-vase' pots are raised on clustered sphinx paws in the mid-18th century French antique manner. The jeweller Thomas Weeks (d. 1834) employed the architect James Wyatt (d. 1813) to design the Titchbourne Street emporium entitled the 'Royal Mechanical Museum', which opened in 1797; while Charles Heathcote Tatham (d. 1842) designed its throne in honour of King George III. Tatham, the author of Etchings of Ancient Ornament Architecture... (1796) and Designs for Ornamental Plate (1806), may have participated in the design of this ink-stand, which also relates to 'Sphinx' inkstands manufactured around 1810 by the Vulliamys of Pall Mall (G. de Bellaigue, 'The Vulliamys and France', Furniture History, 1967, pp. 45-53).

A bronze-mounted rosewood inkstand by The Weeks Museum was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 6 July 2000, lot 2 (£8,225).