Antique Bronze-Tone Figural Inkwell, Page Boy with a Squirrel Beside a Tree Stump Ink Cup
This is a cast metal figural desk inkwell or inkstand, unidentified, maker unknown. A slim boy with a bob haircut, scalloped collar and knee-length tunic stands on a rectangular pebbled base, resting one hand on a bark-textured tree stump while holding a thin rod with a furled shape over his shoulder. A squirrel sits up between his feet. Set into the ringed stump top is a round metal ink cup, and a raised pen ledge crosses one end of the base. The finish is a brown, dark bronze-tone patina. No marks were found. It resembles unmarked spelter inkstands of about 1880 to 1910, but no matching model has been documented.
Help identify this item
We could not identify this piece. If you know the maker, the name, the year or where it came from, please tell us below. Photos of a marked copy help most.
Help identify this inkwell
Cast spelter inkstands with a figure beside a tree stump or rock that holds the ink well were common desk pieces in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and many were sold unmarked. Similar documented examples are attributed to France, Austria or the United States, but we have not found this boy and squirrel model. If you know the maker, foundry or the story it shows, please add it below.
A page boy and a squirrel beside a tree stump ink cup
This boy with squirrel figural inkwell is a cast metal desk piece on a flat rectangular base, with a slim standing boy filling one half of the base and a tall tree stump ink holder filling the other. The finish is brown, a dark bronze-tone patina that shows a lighter gold, a brassy yellow, wherever it is rubbed on the high points such as the hair, cheeks, collar, knees and the rings on the stump. Collectors would call it a spelter or bronze figural inkstand.
Front to back: the boy has a rounded bob or page boy haircut with combed lines, a wide scalloped collar, a fitted knee-length tunic or short coat with a center seam, and bare lower legs. His right hand rests on top of the stump. His left hand is raised to his shoulder and grips a thin rod; behind his fist a wider, tapered, furled shape lies over his shoulder, so it reads like a closed umbrella, a furled flag or a bundle on a stick. A small squirrel sits up on its haunches between his feet with its bushy tail curled up its back. In front of the squirrel, a flat wedge-shaped object lies on the ground. Deep vertical bark texture covers the stump, and concentric growth rings are cast into its flat top. A round metal cup with a rolled lip is set into the edge of the stump top at a slight angle, with a small hole at the center of its floor. The ground of the base is cast with a rough pebbled texture, and a narrow raised rectangular ledge, likely a pen rest, runs across one short end of the base.
Underneath, the base is closed by a separate flat metal plate fitted inside a raised rim around the edge of the casting. No maker's name, foundry mark, model number or country of origin was seen on the base or the figure.
On this copy: the base is about the width of an adult palm and roughly two and a half times as long, judged from a hand in the photos (not measured). Worn and uneven, the patina shows brassy rub-through on raised areas and a few small green verdigris spots on the base edge. Dust and lint sit in the hair and around the collar. In the boy's hand, the rod is thin and slightly bent near its tip. The ink cup has no glass liner or hinged lid. Underneath, the plate is scratched, has rust-colored spots, and carries a looping trail of gold-colored residue that looks like old adhesive or paint, possibly from a removed felt pad (seen on 1 copy). No breaks or missing limbs are visible on the boy or the squirrel.
- Type: Figural desk inkwell or inkstand with a pen rest
- Material: Cast metal, likely spelter (white metal) or bronze
- Colors: Brown, a dark bronze-tone patina, with gold, a brassy yellow, on rubbed high points
- Figure: Boy with a bob haircut, scalloped collar and tunic, a rod and furled shape over his left shoulder
- Animal: Squirrel sitting up between the boy's feet
- Stump: Bark texture, growth rings on top, round cup with a rolled lip set into the edge
- Base: Rectangular, pebbled ground, raised pen ledge across one short end, fitted bottom plate
- Marks: No marks seen
- This copy: Base about palm width and 2.5 times as long (not measured); patina rubbed through, small verdigris spots, no liner or lid in the cup, gold-colored residue under the base
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About the Figural Boy and Squirrel Metal Inkwell
Who made the figural inkwell with a boy, a squirrel and a tree stump?
Unknown so far. There is no mark on the base or the figure, and we have not found a matching example in collector references. Please add a comment if you have seen one.
How do I tell if my figural inkwell is bronze or spelter?
Many figural inkstands of this type are spelter, a zinc alloy finished to look like bronze. Spelter is lighter, and a scratch on a hidden spot shows gray metal, while bronze is heavier and shows a gold or copper color. This one has a bronze-tone patina worn to a brassy color on the high points, and it has not been tested.
What is the round cup on top of the tree stump for?
It is the ink well. On figural inkstands the cup usually held ink, often in a glass liner or under a hinged lid, and neither is present on this one.
How old is an unmarked figural inkwell like this?
We cannot date this one without a mark or a matching example. Comparable unmarked spelter figural inkstands in collector references are dated to about 1880 to 1910.