IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 140446 accession number: EC.6-1939 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Tuesday 11 March 2025 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: 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. object type: 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. title: inkstand NOTES ----- type: history note value: unknown before C. H. B. Caldwell by whom given LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Applied Arts creditline: Given by C. H. B. Caldwell, Esq STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140446 PEOPLE ------------------- Albani, Annibale, Cardinal (1682-1751) SUBJECTS ------------------- writing coat-of-arms floral spray insects coat-of-arms floral spray insects CATEGORIES ------ category: hard-paste porcelain DATING ------ creation date: 1742 - 1745 creation date earliest: 1742 creation date latest: 1745 culture: 18th Century, Mid CREATORS -------- maker: Meissen Porcelain Factory CITATIONS -------- Meissen and Other Continental Porcelain, Faïence and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection Fragile Diplomacy, Meissen Porcelain for European Courts ca. 1710-63 A Scholar's Porcelain Miscellany ---