Mauchline Ware Boat-Shaped Inkstand with Oars

A Mauchline ware inkstand in the shape of a boat with two paddle-shaped dip pens. The boat has two small storage pockets with lids. Depicted are French scenes: two scenes from the Palace Fontainebleau and two from the fort at Fontainebleau.

The production of Scottish white-wood products, or Mauchline ware, was carried out from the 1820s until 1939 by the firm of W & A Smith among other less long-lived manufacturers. Often, they used a basic transfer as on this inkstand, each piece having the view of the place of purchase. The transfer subjects ranged across Scotland and more of the British Isles to the rest of the world. A fire in 1933 stopped production, which was never restarted, and W & A Smith finally closed in 1939.