A REGENCY ORMOLU DOLPHIN INKSTAND
A REGENCY ORMOLU DOLPHIN INKSTAND

EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS MESSENGER & SONS

Details
A REGENCY ORMOLU DOLPHIN INKSTAND
EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS MESSENGER & SONS
The hinged scallop-shell with wells and recesses to the interior, on a green variegated marble square section base with foliate collar
7½ in. (19 cm.) high; the base 5½ in. (14 cm.) square
Provenance
Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966), Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, by whom given to Professor Sir Albert Richardson P.R.A circa 1955.

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Alexandra Cruden
Alexandra Cruden

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Lot Essay

Thomas Messengers and Sons were adept at producing fine bronze and ormolu domestic objects. They were primarily lamp manufacturers and had a metal foundry in Birmingham (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1998, p. 606, cat. no. 733).
A similar dolphin-borne 'shell' inkstand was sold Michael Lipitch Collection, Sotheby's London, 22 May 1998, lot 24 (£ 18,400 incl.). Another is illustrated in N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1992, vol. II. p. 202, cat. no. 415.

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