This bronze-figured inkstand is conceived in the early 19th Century French 'antique' manner inspired by G. B. Piranesi's Diverse Maniere d'adornare i Cammini, 1769, and encouraged by Vivant Denon's account of his Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, 1802. Its pen-tray chest, of golden-amboyna shaped as an Egyptian temple-pylon, is supported by bacchic lion-feet emerging from palmette-trusses and centred by the Egyptian-lioness mask bearing the drawer-handle. Appropriate for a monumental desk-garniture it displays the Osiris Apis rhyton (bull-headed horn) with kneeling priestesses guarding ink-canisters. The Apis-bull was sacred to Ptah, the protector of the arts and acknowledged 'Master Builder'
The quality of the chest can be compared to those manufactured by Martin-Guillaume Biennais (d.1843) and its Egyptian ornament relates to candelabra modelled about 1803 by Lucien-François Feuchère (d.1823; see: Egyptomania, Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1994, no. 170). The inkstand of this pattern that belonged to George IV is illustrated in the pictorial inventory of Carlton House Palace drawn up in 1810 and was noted by Benjamin Jutsham as having been supplied by Dupasquier (see: C. Hussey, Buckingham Palace, London, 1931, fig. 236).
A version of this inkstand with straight-sided chest and rouge-marble cornice was sold anonymously, Christie's South Kensington, 25 October 1989, lot 249. One of a related group of inkstands with a cornucopiae-bearing priestess is illustrated M. Faniel, Le Dix-neuvième Siècle Français, Paris, 1957, p. 156

The inkstand bears the signature of the scholar and antiquary William Bennett (d.1820) who served as Bishop of Cloyne from 1794 until 1820. His monument in Cloyne cathedral emphasises his interest in foreign lands, having as its base an Indian kneeling under a palm tree with a bible in his hands