19th Century Cobalt Glazed Ceramic Inkwell

[UnderMiner]

Was excavating a 100+ year old area today and just as the sun began to set I discovered this amazing hand painted glazed ceramic inkwell.

It appears to be a type used in the early 19th century for quill pens, though I am still not quite certain as to the proper name for this style of inkwell.

It is overall 4.5 inches wide. The ink chamber is 2.5 inches wide, and the hole for the pen is 1.5 inches wide.

It features hand painted cobalt blue glaze flower patterns with white glaze pettals, there are a total of twenty 6-pointed stars.

A view of the four sides:

Freshly dug:

The base, which features a signature. The firing process unfortunately seems to have blurred the lines making it difficult to interpret:

I also found this John Maddock & Sons Vitrified stone pitcher very close to the inkwell. The stamp corresponds to a pre-1896 manufactur date. I think the pitcher and the inkwell may have been disposed of by the same person. Perhaps even, the pitcher was used for transferring ink into the well.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Wow that's a fantastic find! Amazing that it was thrown out intact and survived all these years without being chipped, considering how delicate it is.

 

[Len]

Yes, they both are eye catching. Nice finds, but I see no evidence of ink staining. There is the possibility they were never used for that purpose. ..I'd guess and say they might be part of a young girl's collection. The creamer might only have landed near the Oriental styled piece but were not normally associated with each other. The mystery may be solved by other artifacts surfacing in that area as you dig. Keep us posted. Thanks.