Inkwells: Plain and Fancy, Personal and Commercial

Meta F. Janowitz

Inkwells: Plain and Fancy, Personal and Commercial

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Specialized Ceramic Vessels, From Oyster Jars to Ornaments" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Vessels made to hold ink have been a necessary part of writers’ tool kits since antiquity. Salt-glazed stoneware inkwells and ink stands were in common use during the late 18th and 19th centuries, yet they are seldom identified in archaeological collections. At a time when elegant handwriting was a mark of gentility and education, decorated inkwells could be among the most personal of artifacts, while plain versions were used anonymously by clerks in commercial establishments. This paper will illustrate the plain and fancy forms of stoneware writing-related vessels and suggest how they might be identified and interpreted from excavated sherds.