Images(15)

Inkstand

Dateca. 1810

Maker Joseph Sewell

Secondary Maker St. Anthony's Pottery

OriginEngland, Newcastle upon Tyne

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (pearlware)

DimensionsOH: 5 7/16" (with candleholder in place); OD: 7 1/4".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2021-200,A-E

DescriptionPearlware insktand to include frame (A) with lidded (B) wafer compartment, inkpot (C), sander (E), and pineapple-shaped candleholder (D).

Lead-glazed earthenware (pearlware) drum-shaped inkstand, the sides with an arcaded band of overlapping circles, pierced through on one half; the top with a removable demi-lune cover topped by a recumbent lion resting on a bed of acanthus leaves; the other half of the drum-shaped base with eight small circular openings for quills and three larger circular apertures to hold removable cylindrical inkpot and sander each surmounted with molded leaves, and a removeable pineapple-topped candleholder. The sides of the removeable inkpot, candleholder, and sander each incised to resemble bark. The base of the stand is impressed “SEWELL” for Joseph Sewell during his time as proprietor of St. Anthony’s Pottery.
Label TextThis handsome inkstand is illustrated as #87 in Joseph Sewell’s Book of Designs, a copy of which is in the collections of the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWCMS acc. no. 2011.2377; formerly acc. no. 61-1956-F7). The inkstand is a rare survival and one of only two currently known examples of the form retaining all of their parts. Its shape is similar to contemporary and slightly earlier cruet stands made by several potteries in cream-colored earthenware and by some manufacturers of fused silverplate.
MarkingsThe underside of the frame is impressed “SEWELL” for Joseph Sewell, the mark used during his time as proprietor of St. Anthony’s Pottery. The interior of the wafer compartment bears and impressed "2" and the underside of the lid of the wafer compartment bears an incised "2".
ProvenancePurchased from Earle D. Vandekar (2021)
Ex coll: Mario Buatta (2020)