I picked up this Victorian Art Nouveau ink blotter recently in an online auction. It is another piece that I feel fits into the definition of "decorative art" quite nicely. It is made of cast iron that was painted to look like patinated bronze. The original enamel paint is chipped in a few places, but aside from that age related wear the blotter is in magnificent condition. Depicted on the top of the base is an Indian head wearing a headdress and necklace inside a heart shaped border. Underneath are a peace pipe and tomahawk crossed. The handle is highly detailed with mirrored free-form lines and dots in a very pleasing shape. There is still an old but unused piece of blotter paper attached to the underside.
I'm a huge fan of objects from the Art Nouveau period that were highly decorated beyond anything made today. The creators truly believed that function should not be devoid of a pleasing form. In this piece, it is so well designed as to appear to be sculptural rather than utilitarian. Even the screws that hold the handle to the base are shaped like flower buds or nuts. It's a very handsome piece, one that I could very easily imagine on a gentleman's roll top desk a hundred years ago. It's now on my antique roll top desk, and it looks like it belongs there.
After a fair bit of research, I found that this blotter was made in the late 19teens to about the mid-1920'S by the H. L. Judd Hardware Company. More on the Judd Company and their decorative wares will follow in a future post.
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, front |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, left |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, back |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, right |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, apart |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, base |
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| Antique Indian head blotter, painted cast iron, underside |
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