Object Description
Iznik-style ceramic and brass-mounted ink stand
French, 19th Century
Height 10.5cm, width 34cm, depth 19cm
Revealing a vase and flowers contained in a border of repeating pattern-work, with two lidded inkwells flanking a central holder, this remarkable desk-piece is a very fine Iznik style inkstand, made in France in the late nineteenth century. Stylistically, it draws upon earlier Islamic pottery made in the Iznik style (after the town in Western Anatolia from which it originates) which was popular during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
All components of the piece are similarly decorated, with brass mounts to the two inkwells and to the base. The brass mount to the base features engraved detailing of flowers and plants, and sits on four bun feet. While the style reached its height in the sixteenth century, when works using the bold cobalt-blue pigment reached superb levels of detail and sophistication, it was revived in nineteenth century by French makers, although a piece such as this, where a very western-European object is decorated using beautiful Arabesque and Islamic styles, is a very rare and desirable find indeed.