Antique French Ornate Dore Brass Inkwell Stand, Desk Tray, Enamel Portrait

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Antique French Ornate Dore Brass Inkwell Stand, Desk Tray, Enamel Portrait:
$995.00

Your browser does not support JavaScript.To view this page, enable JavaScript if it is disabled or upgrade your browser.
Click Here. Double your traffic. Get Vendio Gallery - Now FREE!

Antique French Ornate Dore Brass Inkwell Stand, Desk Tray, Enamel Portrait All items and photos are the express property of Antiques & Uncommon Treasure. No reproduction without prior written consent.

If you like what you see, be sure to click here to add us to your Favorite Seller\'s List. We\'ll be sending out sale notices and special deals to our \'Favorites\' customers.

A superb old mid-1800s large inkwell and desk tray all in one, this beauty is sure to thrill. It\'s got an ornamental cartouche which is an inset convex plaque of copper with wonderful kiln-fired enamel portrait of a boy and his dog, enjoying the countryside. The scene is right out of the Romantic Era movement of the 1700s which remains popular and is best represented by the paintings by Boucher, Fragonard and others whose vibrant outdoor genre scenes with romantic themes still hang in the Louvre today. The boy is beautifully done. I\'ve written much about how difficult this type of artistry is. Imagine you\'re painting this scene in miniature and using a variety of muddy-looking pots of shades of grey to mauve to taupe, trying to remember which color they\'ll be once the kiln melts them into this glassine surface which most resembles porcelain, and also to remember exactly where to daub them on in order to get the face of the boy, his activity and liveliness of clothing and pose, and his dog, picnic basket and all. It is incredibly difficult to learn to do something like this. I know, I\'ve tried it. One would have to be an artist to begin with but then also to apprentice for many years at the side of a Master enamelist in order to get anything even close to the grandeur of this small enamel. That said, allow me to also point out the gentle shading in the sky and the leaves - this in a very small oval. Even the foreshortening of the leg and the motion of his arms is perfectly captured - again, in layers of muddy glaze-like fluids. Thrills me every time I see a really fine one, and this one certainly is among the finest! We have some fabulous enameled opera glasses that would go along with this one so beautifully - sold separately, but look for those. The ornamentation does not end with the enamel, however. The entire desk stand is hand (burin) engraved and the resulting stand is just stunning, truly! You\'ll love it! Very good to excellent condition for age and type. The enameled plaque is in remarkably fine condition, as you can see in our greatly enlarged photos of it. There is a little roughness to the outline owing to the manner in which it has been mouned, but the enamel is not chipped or cracked or damaged in any way. The large and heavy solid brass is of high gilt alloy and polishes up to a brilliant shine. You\'ll want to display your pen collection on this desk tray! And yes, there is the old glass ink pot still intact within (see images). Wow - a real find!

Image Hosting by Ruby Lane

Return Policy:
We always honor a 3-day return on our items, and guarantee them to be as described. Money back, less shipping costs, which are not refundable, so ask questions if necessary. We\'re easy to deal with.

Shipping and Handling Policy:

You are very important! Our fine inventory is very important. And your ranking of our performance is also very important! We wish to keep our 4.9 - 5 star ratings in all categories. Customer satisfaction is paramount with us, so if you\'re thinking we have not deserved your highest marks, please contact us and allow us to be sure your concerns are completely satisfied before you rank us. We aim for 5-star transactions every day, and depend upon you to tell us directly if we have not yet met that standard for your transaction. Thank you! We most often use USPS for our shipping needs but will be happy to ship by another carrier if you prefer.

We charge only actual postage & insurance, never a handling fee and never for packaging materials. is now requiring that our clients rank us on \"shipping\". The shipping price, speed and handling are actually under the sole control of the delivering postal agency, not Antiques & Uncommon Treasure so please remember that and leave us high DSR rankings. As always, please also feel free to contact us if you have any problems or concerns, we\'ll do what we can to ensure a happy and mutually enjoyable transaction.

Insurance has been eliminated as an option by , forcing us sellers to either ship your items without insurance or assume that expense also. We always insure our items BUT, more importantly, pack them extremely well knowing that most are not replacable. Again, damage in transit, while rare in our experience, is due to the postal agency handling and not caused by Antiques & Uncommon Treasure. Please remember that when leaving DSR ratings. Thanks!

Our shipping days are Tuesday and Friday, paid items will be shipped on the first shipping day after payment is recieved (except when special circumstances exist). We prefer to use USPS whenever possible, and require all packages to be insured. If you prefer another method of shipment, please mention it. We charge only actual expense of shipment/insurance, except in the case of larger items which must have special wood crates built. Wood crate charge, when applicable, is a flat $35.00 in addition to actual postage & insurance charges.

Other Information:
8.75% sales tax applicable as of April 1st, 2009 for shipments & sales within the state of California, no exceptions. If you are within CA and are a dealer buying for resale, you must provide us your active resale certificate # and acknowledgment of intent to resell or we will have to collect sales tax. No exceptions.

sale Payment Methods:
Paypal: E-Check, Visa, Mastercard, etc.. Credit card payment by online service only, no direct processing.

Listing created with eLister 3.1.2 for Macintosh from Black Magik Software.