Pen rack, Ahmedabad, c. 1850

Pen rack in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum number 01386(IS) to 01386A/(IS)), made in Ahmedabad, dated c. 1850. The museum's brief description reads: A rack for three pens, with a pointed arch, in grey agate with brown markings and a pen shaft with a feather-shaped terminal, in grey agate, Ahmedabad India, 19th century.

Museum description: A pen rack and a pen holder fashioned in grey agate with brown markings. The rack has space for three pens and consists of two verticals that are linked via a separate pointed arch and which are set into a rectangular base which stands on six attached, biconvex disc-shaped feet. On the front edge there is a central protrusion which has a square recess carved into the upper surface, probably for an ink well which is now absent.

The edges of the base have been carved with vertical ribbing and there is a double row of engraved lines on the upper surface that run around the edges and around the square recess. The upper edges of the arch have been carved with decorative broad grooves and at the apex there is an attached, pointed finial which has been carved with vertical channels. Through the cleft in the underside of the arch, from under the finial, there is a drill hole into which a metal pin and loop have been set and from which is attached a partially gilded metal hook.

The pen shaft… The museum records it as Agate, cut and polished using abrasives and abrasive-charged tools., measuring Length 119.5 mm; Length 60.9 mm; Width 86.0 mm; Width 56.4 to 58.0 mm; Height 188.5 mm; Thickness 12.5 to 14.5 mm; Depth 6.0 mm; Diameter 15.5 to 16.0 mm; Length 134.0 mm; Diameter 4.5 to 5.0 mm;…. These details come from the museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.