A REGENCY ORMOLU AND PORPHYRY DOLPHIN INKSTAND

Thomas Messenger and Sons were adept at producing fine bronze and ormolu domestic objects. They were primarily lamp manufacturers with 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 is illustrated in N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1992, vol. II. p. 202, cat. no. 415.
Another was sold from the Michael Lipitch Collection, Sotheby's London, 22 May 1998, lot 24 (£18,400 inc' prem') and another was sold from the important collection of Professor Albert Richardson, P.R.A., Christie's, London, 18-19 September 2013, lot 62 (£6,250 inc' prem').