Closepack

Paul Ysart Inkwells follow various design themes and are essentially larger versions of some of the regular paperweight patterns. This Inkwell is clearly a closepack design.

Closepacks often have a border of canes but of varying style. The first weight has alternating canes, the fourth uses a common cane. Examples two and three appear not to have a clearly defined border but when examined closely it is often seen that the outer edge, consisting of either similar-sized or obviously large-and-small canes, do make an effective border. The Inkwell above has an alternating-cane border in both the base and stopper.

As with other weights, the grounds for closepacks differ. For the first three shown here similarities can be readily found in other types of weight - thin blue layer, dark blue cushion, and light-blue / white mottled (fine jasper) cushion. The fourth example has a polychrome scattered cushion and this is not a form seen regularly in other weight designs.