Porcelain & Gilt Brass Bullfinch Inkstand

Description This French desk inkstand features a gilded brass rectangular tray with a dark-green lacquered field, finished with a fine engine-turned edge band and resting on four circular knurled bun feet.

At the center sits a hand-painted porcelain figure of a male European Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)—distinguished by its characteristic black cap, grey-brown mantle, and bright salmon-red chest—perched on a naturalistic tree trunk base.

Flanking the bird are two cylindrical French porcelain inkwells mounted with beaded brass collar rings and hinged lids. The porcelain bodies display hand-painted floral bouquets (fleurs des Indes style) under a turquoise/bleu céleste border with gilded scrollwork. The hinged tops are surmounted by raised, hand-modeled porcelain rose clusters. Inside, the inkstand retains its original white porcelain inserts.

Origin & Manufacturer

• Country of Origin: France (specifically Paris).
• Manufacturer: Unmarked, but the porcelain elements are characteristic of Vieux Paris (Old Paris) or Edmé Samson et Cie (Paris) porcelain workshops.
  • French manufacturers in the 19th century frequently combined fine porcelain figures and pots imported from Parisian kilns with cast brass/ormolu desk mounts.
  • The bird model, fine polychrome floral enameling, and encrusted porcelain flower finials closely mirror 18th-century Sèvres and Meissen revival styles produced extensively by Samson and Paris porcelain ateliers.

Date & Age

• Estimated Period: Late 19th Century (circa 1870–1890), late Napoleon III era.