Page 30 - BBR July 5 2020 Auction

124. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FIGURAL TEAKETTLE FOUNTIAN INK BOTTLE. 4.25ins long, 2.75ins tall. Medium cobalt blue (with amethyst tones). Main section in the form of
a balding man with long fringe of hair at the sides forming the reservoir of a teakettle type ink. Head faces the spout and has been occasionally been identified as Gladstone but is now widely regarded as being Benjamin Franklins (1706-1790). Sheared mouth with brass neck, no lid. Manufacturing flaws beneath/ near brass neck ring (see close up images on easylive.com). A significantly rare form, & a rare offering, in a stunning, rich colour. Ex Alan Evanuk Collection. (8.7/10) NR £600-800+
The much admired statesman makes an even more suitable subject for an inkwell as a supplier of stationary himself. From the Post Office, near Market Place, Philadelphia he advertised:
‘All sorts of paper, parchment, ink-powder, sealing wax, wafers, fountain pens, pencils, brass ink horns, ink bottles neatly set in brass [lidded], ink and sand glasses with brass heads, pounce, and pounce boxes...fine pewter stands proper for offices and counting-houses.’ Philadelphia Gazette, May 6th, 1742
Franklin seated with an inkwell. Gleason’s 1854 print also shows his Philadelphia premises.
There is no labelled bottle or documented American provenance for these bottles and they are most likely of European origin. The
subject’s connection with France is strong. Franklin was American Commissioner
there for 9 years from 1776, signing the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
convincing the French government to support America against Britain, and also signatory at the Treaty of Paris (1783). Joseph Siffred Duplessis’s
famous life portrait of Franklin (utilised on the $100 bill) was commissioned
while Franklin was in Paris in 1779 is the likely source of the design. Writing to
Detail from the $100 Bill based on Siffred Duplessis’s portrait of Franklin.
his daughter Georgiana Franklin that year he reported that:
“A variety of [clay medallions] have been made of different sizes; some to be set in the lids of snuffboxes, and some so small as to be worn in rings; and the numbers sold are incredible. These, with the pictures, busts and prints, (of which copies upon copies are spread everywhere) have made your father’s face as well-known as that of the moon...’
Aqua versions have been found there and this bottle
is probably the example discovered at a Brighton Car Boot sale in 1986 (see BBR
28, p23). French firms such as Adrien Maurin are responsible for most figural designs of this type. Mathews pictured (BBR p24) the only known black (deep amethyst) example but the blues number around five known, aqua and clear glass not far behind.
124A. JAMES SCHOOLBRED LONDON TOOTH PASTE POT
LID & BASE. 3.1ins diam. Shop front pictorial
of Schoolbreds premises at
Tottenham House, Tottenham Court
Rd - this the Cherry Tooth Paste variant from their range. Some wear/
dirt - should clean, no chips or
cracks. (8.5/10) NR £120-150+