An inkstand is a stand, tray, or casket used to house

writing instruments A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, ...

. They were generally portable objects, intended to sit on the table or desk where the person was writing. They were useful household objects when quill pens and

dip pen A dip pen is a writing instrument used to apply ink to paper. It usually consists of a metal nib (pen), nib with a central slit that acts as a capillary action, capillary channel like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, ofte ...

s were in everyday use. At the most basic, an inkstand had a pen, a tightly-capped

inkwell An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing. The artist or writer dips the brush, quill, or dip pen into the inkwell ...

, and a sand shaker for rapidly drying the ink after it was written on the page. Other items might also be included. A penwiper (a cloth for wiping blobs of ink off the end of the pen) would often be included, and from the mid-nineteenth century, an inkstand might have a box or compartment for steel nibs used in dip pens. They might have a box or drawer for

sealing wax Sealing wax is a wax material of a seal (emblem), seal which, after melting, hardens quickly (to paper, parchment, ribbons and wire, and other material), forming a bond that is difficult to break without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify ...

and other necessities, such as a candle and a candle holder to use while melting the wax wafers. Inkstands could be made of any material. In middle-class households, they might be made of tin, wood, pewter or

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

. In wealthier households, they were most often made of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

or sometimes

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

, and could be decorated with

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

mother of pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

, gold, or even jewels. Inkstands with tightly closing lids, often finely made, were part and parcel of a traveling kit, until the widespread use of the

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...

. Inkstands were going out of use before the development of

ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Pakistani, and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali English and South Asian English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) ...

, which finished them as a primary source of ink. An older name for an inkstand was a standish. During the 19th century, they were sometimes called pen rests.

Historic examples

Relatively few inkstands survive. The Syng inkstand, made in 1752 by Philip Syng, was used by the American delegates to sign both the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

in 1776 and the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

in 1787. File:Syng inkstand.jpg, The Syng inkstand File:Kalamarz szkolny 0211.jpg, The school inkstand File:1920 American Ink Stand.JPG, 1920 inkstand File:Chelsea Porcelain Factory - Inkstand - Walters 48842 (2).jpg, Porcelain inkstand.

The Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially by major American art an ...

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Inkstands Writing implements pl:Kałamarz

Historic examples

See also

References

External links