Collection record · Small worlds
Inkstand
The collection record classifies this work as jewelry. It is dated 1800s. Recorded culture or place: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Jaipur.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Inkstand
- Date
- 1800s
- Culture / origin
- Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Jaipur
- Materials and technique
- Gold, silver, and enamel
- Dimensions
- Overall: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1916.439
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This enamel inkstand takes the fanciful form of a pleasure boat, linking the composing of poetry and the writing of calligraphy to the amusement of the senses. The luxurious materials and elegant form also indicate that scribal activities require a certain level of refinement. Cleverly, the enamelist placed a lotus design on the bottom of the vessel; as a flower that floats on water, the bloom represents both the water imaginatively splashing against the underside of the boat and the actual ink swishing inside the bilge.
This inkstand was purchased by Cleveland Museum of Art founder Jeptha Homer Wade II (1857–1926) and his wife Ellen Garretson Wade (1857–1917) as they made a tour of India on their own pleasure boat, the Wadena.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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