Monart and Vasart at an 1947 Exhibition

Three pieces by Paul Ysart - Observations by Kevin Holt

The ink bottle to the left is of a less common form, being more flattened in both the stopper and base than is usually seen. Its stopper confirms an item that I have seen, which looks like a flattened paperweight, shown as PY1023, (2.5 inch diameter) but listed by the owner as “probably a reduced bottle stopper”. The form and spaced layout of the canes in the “reduced” one and that of the exhibition example show enough of a match to confirm this.

It appears to have a shaped or applied pedestal, I think it is very likely “shaped” and probably has a Monart-style pontil. I have a 3½ inch (90mm) diameter weight which shows a similar low pedestal foot and is script signed “P. Ysart”.
The weight can be seen at KevH site, the foot detail is shown at the bottom of row 2, column 1 in the final table.

The second Inkwell has a more regular Paul Ysart shape but is unusual in two respects. The base seems to have a loose group of different canes in the centre, which is something I have not seen before in Paul Ysart’s work. There are many known examples of “central clusters of canes” but packed together rather than loosely set. The second unusual feature is that the stopper and neck contain a mix of cane pieces and twists. This is known in a few other Paul Ysart Inkwells and shows that Paul did not always leave the “well section” clear.

As for the paperweight, I imagine that it is of “super magnum” size. The pattern is the same as “PY1005” in the Paul Ysart Catalogue, which as we know is a massive 5 inch (130mm) piece. There is a 4 5/8 inch (11y mm) example in Perth Museum of the same design. Both have a “PY” cane included at the side of one arm of the star. Looking at an enlargement of the Exhibition images, I am fairly sure that the weight also has a “PY” cane at the upper inner edge of the arm at the “just-past-2’o’clock” position. So this may well be only the third signed super magnum Star weight I am aware of..