Production: Meissen Porcelain Factory
Inkstand or desk set, comprising a tray, square ink pot and cover, quill holder, and square pounce pot or sand caster with pierced top. Hard-paste porcelain painted in polychrome enamels and gilded. Each piece is decorated with Italianate views with figures, ships, and buildings, which on the tray, ink, and pounce pots are surrounded by ornate gilt rocaille frames. The tray is also decorated with naturalistic floral sprays and insects, and in the centre has the arms of Albani in gold.
Inkstand or desk set, comprising a tray (1), square ink pot and cover (2 & A), quill holder (3), square pounce pot or sand caster (4). Hard paste porcelain painted in blue, greyish blue, green, yellow, red, pink, puce, pale purple, and black enamels, and profusely gilded.
The rectangular tray (1) has incurved corners and curved sides, and stands on a rectangular footring with curved cut corners. In the middle of the front are three cartouches, ornately framed in rococo style with shells and scrolls in gold. The central cartouche bears the Albani arms, executed entirely in gold. The flanking cartouches enclose polychrome Italianate harbour scenes with distant ships, buildings, and small figures standing and sitting on the quay. On each side, next to the rim there is an oblong cartouche with gilded frames, enclosing four different scenes of the same type. In the spaces between the cartouches there are four different botanical-style floral sprays with faint shadows, and six different insects. The rim and corners are gilded to match. On the outside there are six floral sprays, including a tulip, a cornflower, and forget-me-nots, two ladybirds and three other insects. The footring is gilded. In the middle of the base is the factory mark, crossed swords underglaze in blue.
The square inkpot (2 & A)has a circular aperture in the top, and a small circular cover with a cone-shaped knob. Three sides are decorated with gilded cartouches enclosing two shore scenes, and a landscape, and the fourth has the arms of Albani in gold. The top has a border of gilded scrolling foliage, and scroll motifs in the corners. The cover has two landscapes, each with two figures. On the unglazed base is the impressed former's mark '36' and the factory mark, crossed swords in blue.
The quill holder (3) has a square base with cut corners and incurved sides, which rise upwards and inwards to the square, cut-cornered mouth which has a projecting rim.
Three sides are decorated with townscapes with two figures in the foreground and smaller figures in the background. The fourth side bears the arms of Albani in gold. The narrow sides rising from the corners are gilded overall. There are two gold bands and a gold scrolling border around the lower edge, a gold border on the projecting rim, and a band on the edge of the opening. The unglazed base is marked with crossed swords in blue.
The square pounce pot or sand caster (4) has forty-nine holes pierced in its top, and a central cone-shaped knob. The sides and top border are decorated to match the ink pot. The holes in the top are outlined in gold, and there are small gold diamond-shapes in the spaces. The unglazed base is marked with the former's mark '36' impressed, and crossed swords painted in blue.
History note: Unknown before C. H. B. Caldwell by whom given
Given by C. H. B. Caldwell, Esq
Method of acquisition: Given (1939-02-01) by Caldwell, C.H.B.
18th Century, Mid
Circa
1742
-
1745
The Meissen porcelain factory was producing inkstands or desk sets from the 1730s, and a set with a tray of similar shape and size to this one, was presented to the King and Queen of Denmark in 1735. The former's mark, 36, on this tray indicates that it was made about 1742. The arms in the centre are those of the Alabani family, probably for Cardinal Annibale Albani (1682-1781), who received gifts of Meissen porcelain in 1736, 1739 and 1745. On accession, the tall narrow object was identified as a candlestick, despite the square aperture at the top, but Maureen Cassidy Geiger has shown from the manufactory's work reports of 2 December 1742, that it was actually a holder for quill pens made for Prince Albani (cited in the Documentation, Cassidy-Geiger, 2024).
Surface
composed of
glaze
( clear)
Decoration
composed of
enamels
( polychrome)
gold
Tray
Height 4.1 cm
Width 29.8 cm
Two Boxes
Height 4.1 cm
Width 4.8 cm
Pounce Pot Lid
Tray, Quill Holder
Accession number: EC.6-1939
Primary reference Number: 140446
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Inkstand" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140446 Accessed: 2025-10-31 13:19:01
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140446
|title=Inkstand
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-10-31 13:19:01|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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