Small ink pot

Small brown stoneware ink pot with no stopper. Between the 1900s and the 1960s, school-aged children would learn to write with pencil before being allowed to graduate to using pen and ink to complete their school and homework. Each child's desk would have an inkpot set into a special carved hole, and would be filled up by an ink monitor. The ink pot would normally sit at the top right of the desk. This made writing quite the messy nuisance for children who were allowed to continue writing left-handed, which was generally discouraged until the later 20th century.