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Inkstand

Inkstand

Frédéric Boucheron (French (Paris), 1858–present)
Paul Legrand (1840–1910)
Crossville and Glachant (French (Paris), founded in 1861)
1876
Medium/TechniqueSilver, partial gilt, champlevé, basse-taille, cloisonné enamels
Dimensions23.4 x 33.6 cm (9 3/16 x 13 1/4 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds bequeathed by Genevieve Gray Young in memory of Patience Young and Patience Gray Young, Frederick Brown Fund, William E. Nickerson Fund, Otis Norcross Fund, Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, H. E. Bolles Fund, Russell B. and Andrée Beauchamp Stearns Fund, Ernest Kahn Fund, Helen B. Sweeney Fund, and European Decorative Arts Insurance, Deaccession and Deaccession Income Funds
Accession number2000.977.1-7
On View
On view
ClassificationsSilver
Collections
Description
The form and decoration of this inkstand whimsically imitate Japanese art, and it is a vivid illustration of the work of Parisian goldsmiths at the height of the craze for things Japanese. The inkpots resemble stacked porcelain bowls, whereas the penholder at center mimics a flaring bronze vase. The highly decorative colored enamels reproduce more than thirty Japanese ornamental patterns borrowed from lacquer, ceramics, prints, fans, and textiles.
Inscriptions"10 juillet 1876" enamelled on one side of base, at lower leftProvenance1878, probably sold by Boucheron to Marie-Louise Hungerford (Mrs. John) Mackay (b. 1843 - d. 1928), Paris, London, and New York. December 15, 1988, anonymous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, to S.J. Phillips, London, and Firestone and Parsons, Boston; 1989, sold by S. J. Phillips and Firestone and Parsons to Alan and Simone Hartman, New York. October 24, 2000, anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 179, to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 15, 2000)