Before the desk drawer swallowed everything, the writing table kept its tools in the open, and the pen tray was its centrepiece: a long channel for the pens and a small bowl at the end — for nibs, sealing wax, or the odds and ends every desk produces. A tray like this organised the ritual of writing; today it does the same for keys, glasses, or jewellery, which is why these long desk trays never really left service.
This tray is cast in one piece of patinated metal, a long rectangular channel with raised scrolled rims flowing into a round shell-form bowl at one end, the whole standing on small integral feet. The surface carries a dark patina shading into soft green in the recesses — look into the corners where the scrollwork meets the tray floor, because on a cast piece the patina pools darkest exactly where fingers and cloths cannot reach, while the open surfaces mellow lighter with use. The form is sculptural enough to hold a wall of its own on a console or dressing table.
The tray is sound and sits flat, the patina even and age-consistent, with wear matching decades of daily service; the photographs show the surface as it is. Whoever kept their desk in order with this tray before you kept it well. It is ready for a desk, a console by the door, or a dressing table.
The tray is solid cast metal in a single piece, around 35 centimetres long. It arrives professionally packed and fully insured — we handle the paperwork and worldwide shipping, with all import duties paid by us, so there is nothing to settle on delivery. Returns are accepted within 30 days.
DETAILS:
Length: approx. 35.5 cm (14 in) — roughly the length of a sheet of letter paper
Cast patinated metal, dark brown with green in recesses
Condition: good condition for age; even patina, age-consistent wear
