{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O68101"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O68101/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK1900/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK1900/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AK1900","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV2672","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O68101/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O68101","accessionNumber":"M.639-1936","objectType":"Inkstand","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Silver inkstands appeared in Britain in the 17th century.  They usually included several features. There was a pot, or well, for ink. Another pot with a pierced cover held ‘pounce’ or sand, which writers scattered over the paper to fix the ink. There was a box for wafers to seal the finished letter, and a tray to hold the pens or quills.  By the 18th century, designs were often simpler, particularly for inkstands made in Sheffield plate.\n\nJohn Wakelin and Edward Parker made the first known silver globe inkstand for Lord Melbourne in 1770. Cheaper versions in Sheffield plate rapidly appeared. An ingenious mechanism permits the inkstand to open by pressing upon a stud at the top causing the sides of the upper hemisphere to swing down. Small slots accommodated a penknife, pencil and an ivory writing tablet alongside the ink and pounce pots.  \r\n\r\nThomas Boulsover developed Sheffield plate in about 1742. He found that copper and silver fused in unequal amounts expanded together at uniform rate under mechanical pressure. The material could be rolled into sheets of laminated metal and worked like silver.  The Sheffield plate industry flourished for approximately one hundred years until electroplating superseded it in the 1840s.\n\n","physicalDescription":"The two pounce boxes and ink pots are kept within a globular container with sliding top; frame decorated with four lion masks and draped linen; square base containing a drawer for wafers; four ball feet.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Sheffield plate","id":"AAT81349"},{"text":"Glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[{"text":"plating","id":"AAT53991"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Sheffield plate","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Tools & Equipment","id":"THES48883"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neoclassical","id":"AAT21477"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AK1900","2017JV2672"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407451"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Inkstand","id":""}],[{"text":"Inkpot","id":""}],[{"text":"Inkpot","id":""}],[{"text":"Pounce pot","id":""}],[{"text":"Pounce pot","id":""}],[{"text":"Implement","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer from an inkstand","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Sheffield","id":"x29138"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1810","earliest":"1805-01-01","latest":"1814-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Mrs M. D. Chaplin Gift","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"11.25","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"6.25","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The globe form was fashionable for tea wares as well as inkstands. A painting by Emilius Ditlev Baerentzen (now in the National Gallery of Scotland) of the fashionable Danish Winther family taking tea in 1827 shows a globe-shaped hot water urn on a table. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Sheffield plate and glass globe inkstand. Britain, about 1810. ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":" Church, Rachel  (2014) Writing Equipment and Women in Europe 1500–1900, Women's Writing, 21:3, 385-404, fig. 4"}],"production":"Reason For Production: Retail","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.639-1936","M.639PART/1-1936","M.639PART/2-1936","M.639PART/3-1936","M.639PART/4-1936","M.639PART/5-1936","M.639PART/6-1936"],"accessionNumberNum":"639","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1936,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Inkstand","Inkpot [1]","Inkpot [2]","Pounce pot [1]","Pounce pot [2]","Implement"],"assets":["2021MW4241"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-08","recordCreationDate":"2002-09-30","availableToBook":true}}