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

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 has a tip that has been shaped to hold a nib and it has a feather-shaped terminal.

This pen rack and holder were formerly in the Indian Museum in London and were then transferred to the South Kensington Museum (later renamed The Victoria & Albert Museum) in 1879. They were valued at £2-6s in 1855.
1880 Register Entry: [Room 8. Case .] '01,386. PEN RACK, with inkwell and pen holder. Agate. 12,786'

These writing aids were produced in Ahmedabad in Western India in the mid- to late 19th century. The city has long been associated with the production of decorative and/or utilitarian wares from local quartz hardstones and to this day it continues to be a major gem cutting and trade centre. They were acquired by the Indian Museum in London at some time in the 19th century before they were transferred to South Kensington in 1879.

01386(IS) to 01386A/(IS)