Object Description
A rosewood Writing Box or Ink Stand by William Houghton.
This is a known design, made a number of makers and would have been used for storing and carrying writing equipment rather than as a portable desk which would be much larger. The two halves of the lid sit on either side of the central carrying handle. The lids have a lip to the interior edges to make them useful as trays to hold pencils etc. when opened. The interior has a fixed, shaped pen tray to one side and a divider for an inkwell and a compartment to the other. The compartment probably had a lid originally as there remains a support bar to one end.
Beneath, there is a mahogany lined drawer with a turned knob handle. The maker’s paper label is glued to the drawer interior and notes ‘W. Houghton successor to Mr. Wrangham stationer &c. 161 New Bond Street’.
This box is well made from the selection of timber and the leather skiver to the base to the fine turning to the carrying handle and drawer knob. William Houghton was a good maker and this is an early piece by him. The label address and Houghton’s start date place the box to between 1818 and 1840. However, the presence of ‘successor to Mr. Wrangham’ suggests it is closer to 1818 in date. Circa 1820.
The silver plated inkwell shown in the box is sold separately. The pen is for illustration purposes only.