LOUIS XVI INKSTAND

Rectangular gilt bronze inkstand with twelve Sèvres porcelain plaques having green borders and scenes of birds in landscapes.

French, circa 1765

Height:  3- ½  inches   (8.5 cm.)
Width:  11- ¾ inches  ( 30 cm.)
Depth:  7- ¾ inches (19.5 cm.)

Provenance: Catalina von Pannwitz, Hartekamp, by descent

Plaques for inkstands are first mentioned in the Sèvres factory sales record in 1764 when 42 were sold to the marchand-mercier Poirier. He and his colleague Daguerre are recorded as purchasing 12 more in 1772. In 1765, however, 36 “plaques vertes pour ecritoire”, enough for three inkstands, were sold to an unnamed purchaser. Svend Eriksen [The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Sevres Porcelain , 1968, p.182] notes that the buyer was presumably not a dealer and certainly not a regular factory customer because the usual dealers’ discount was not given.

Examples of this model inkstand with Sevres plaques can be found in Waddesdon Manor, the Wallace Collection, and one formerly in the collection of the Duke or Buccleuch was sold with the collection of Akram Ojjeh.