A REGENCY ORMOLU DOLPHIN INKSTAND

Thomas Messengers and Sons were adept at producing fine bronze and ormolu domestic objects. They were primarily lamp manufacturers and had a metal foundry in Birmingham (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1998, p. 606, cat. no. 733).
A similar dolphin-borne 'shell' inkstand was sold Michael Lipitch Collection, Sotheby's London, 22 May 1998, lot 24 (£ 18,400 incl.). Another is illustrated in N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1992, vol. II. p. 202, cat. no. 415.