The exhibition at the Nizhny Lomov Museum of Local Lore features an inkstand made in the late 19th century. These sets of writing instruments typically included a tray and an inkwell. Inkstands were first used by court officials in royal palaces. The office of a high-ranking person was a ceremonial space that required careful attention to design.

Some inkwells, such as those produced by the Faberge factory, were true works of decorative and applied art. They were crafted from materials like glass, porcelain, and metal (bronze, silver, or cast iron) often combined with each other. Many of them were adorned with enamel and figures of people or animals.

In the Russian Empire, the Kasli Foundry produced both cast iron inkwells and trays for them. Metal products were also manufactured at the Felix Chopin Bronze Foundry, the Sazikov Family Jewelry Workshop, and the Mikhail Yakovlevich Tarasov Silverware Workshop.

Porcelain inkstands were produced at several factories, including the Verbilki Manufactory founded by Franz Yakovlevich Gardner, the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, and the porcelain and faience enterprise of Andrey Yakovlevich Auerbach. Other factories manufacturing these products included the Matvey Kuznetsov Partnership for the Production of Porcelain, Earthenware and Majolica Products, as well as the factory of the landowner and industrialist Andrey Mikhailovich Miklashevsky in Volokitino, and the porcelain factory of the Kornilov Brothers. Inkstands made of onyx were produced at the Imperial Peterhof Factory, while glass objects were created at the Gus Khrystalny Crystal Factory. These products have survived to the present day.

In addition to one or two ink bottles, the inkstand could include a paperweight, a pen and pencil holder, a pen wiper glass, an ashtray, a matchbox, a paper clip holder, and even a lamp with a lampshade. An inkstand could contain up to nine items. Its base usually had a rectangular shape, with grooves for pens and inkwells.