Featured Can anybody help with this inkwell?

thank you

 

Ah I see I didn't realise Kiko was a she I see no end to my apologies any time in the near future. Do you think it's best if I just make another profile and pretend I've bought an identical inkwell? I would like to do the gilding myself, maybe get a cheaper modern piece to practice on before moving up to 22 carat gold, and I can see it's going to take a fair bit of work. I agree with Any Jewelry it is a very fussy piece, it's the intricate fussiness that made me think there was more to it as all the metalwork is very highly defined. Will keep you posted when I start the restoration

 

Nah, I think we're all good now. I think you're going to fit in here just fine. This is the first & only forum I participate in & I had lots of little things to learn at first, just to follow a thread properly. You didn't notice that Kiko was replying to Marie, not to you. That's the last time you'll make that mistake. Anyone who was so willing to get the photos the way we requested is going to get along here.

Funny thing about that whole exchange, I thought you were jumping to the defense of Marie.

 

No I wasn't jumping to anyone's defence. As it transpires, not even my own. I look forward to posting you updates about the inkwell. Maybe it's cursed. Whoever owns it is destined to get confused and mildly irritate other people

 

That's the key word. You're not the surly sort who occasionally joins in & becomes annoying - offensive. Nor are you the type who comes here wanting us to ratify their unshakable belief that some item is a fabulous treasure, such as the inkwell used by Napoleon when he signed the Treaty of Fontainebleu, & then gets defensive & insulting when we challenge that belief.

When you have time & inclination, why don't you start a thread in the Introductions forum & tell us a bit about yourself, your interests, what, if anything, you collect. And we love to see pets.

 

Well I didn't notice they were replying to me, so Wayne, we were both in the same boat

The reason I said it is not Art Nouveau is because the design is too regular, too classic for Art Nouveau. I would expect to see organic shapes, sinuous lines, stylized flowing plant forms. Things like this:

 

WELCOME Wayne , I like you already !!! .. Lovely inkwell, .... Joy.

 

This gets more like Who's on first with every reply.

Just seconding that it is not art nouveau. Correctly or not, everything that turns up in searches & looks similar is said to be French. This is supposed to be Sevres:

 

While you all are dithering about this great Inkwellian problem, you could send it to me. I happen to know a super restorer-of old-things-with-gold-leaf.

Really.

 

Does anyone else agree this has to be one of the worst designs for an ink bottle ever?

 

That shape makes no sense!

 

That HAS to be for perfume!!

 

The M&S remark is our new friend gently taking the piss, as we say here.

Mid 19th C Empire Revival, mount is probably French over what may well be English (Stourbridge made) glass. I've a nice brass desk inkwell with wreaths like that. We shipped in components like mad in the 19th C and adorned our own stuff with them.

Me, I'd not regild it, I like things original.

 

At first it didn't make sense to me either. It needs a visible background for reference. But it's a crescent moon which is a very frequent symbol in Victorian items. Look close and you'll see the notches for the pen to rest in.

 

I think it has the mixed design elements of so many Victorian things.

It is a pretty piece.

 

Thanks for refocusing my eyes. Once again it turns out that something wasn't making sense because some assumption I was making was wrong. We're looking from an overhead angle at the top, not from the side at the side, & the ink bottle is as it should be.

 

Marks and Spencer’s = Marks and Sparks as I have heard it called.
I’m with Ownedbybear and would clean it up and leave it at that.

 

Good afternoon everyone. Well what a lovely way for so many people so say hello and so many thoughts about the inkwell, thank you to everyone. In response to Bronwen's suggestion, I'm 55 and live in Cornwall, taking a break from work this year before deciding what I want to do next. I don't collect much but I do like writing memorabilia and I'm currently working on an old desk as well. I have no unshakeable beliefs about this inkwell as I rather be on a quest of knowledge about it. I say this safe in the knowledge that I already own the inkwell used by Napoleon when he signed the Treaty of Fontainebleu, made by Walmart. Marie and Ownedbybear make a good point, it just doesn't feel Art Nouveau but it does have organic elements to it. As art styles are transitional would it be fair to say this could have been made when styles were changing, so possibly mid 19th century up to 1890 when AN started to become popular? Then Kentworld and Ownedbybear raise another good question. Do we keep an antique like this in the condition it's in now and appreciate its age? Or do we wonder how it must have looked when it was possibly presented to someone as a present and think it deserves to look like that again? I'm in the second camp. Besides, like I said I live in Cornwall, where the men are men and sheep are worried. It will give me something to do in the evenings