Furniture, Works of Art & Clocks - 12th April 2017
Lot 291
A Regency gilt and patinated bronze inkstand retailed by the Thomas Weeks Museum
Estimate £1,000 - £1,500 | Hammer £1200
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Description
A Regency gilt and patinated bronze inkstand retailed by the Thomas Weeks Museum, modelled with a seated greyhound, its collar inscribed 'FIDELE', chained to a tree stump supporting an urn, with an engraved shield inscribed 'WEEKS'S R. MUSEUM TICHBORNE ST.T', the inkwell decorated with a guilloche band and a rosette hinged lid, on a white marble base with a beaded moulding, 14.6cm high, 14.7cm wide.
Thomas Weeks (1743-1834), established his celebrated Museum of Mechanical Curiosities at nos. 3 & 4 Tichborne Street, London, in 1797. The Museum became a place of amusement for sophisticated Londoners, not only was it a private house but also a shop where Weeks displayed a variety of mechanical toys, elaborate temples and contrivances ranging from self playing organs to mechanical spiders.