Inkwell Offered By The King Albert Fund To The Architect Raymond Moenaert Around 1925, Sterling Silver

Interesting Louis XVI style inkwell in solid silver with its marble base, offered by the King Albert Fund to its secretary Raymond Moenaert (1882-1977). The Fund Roi Albert was erected during the 1914-18 war because very quickly the Belgian Sovereign and his ministers realized the enormous destruction caused by the war and its harmful effects on the populations. Unfortunately the funds granted by the Allies cannot be used for anything other than the war effort in the military sense. This does not prevent the general director of the King Albert Fund, the engineer Zanen and his secretary, the architect Raymond Moenaert from preparing and imagining the reconstruction of the devastated areas. To shelter families who lost everything during reconstruction, they designed three types of cabins made of prefabricated panels that can be assembled and dismantled easily. Thousands of these  "Zanen and Moenaert houses" will be built wherever they are needed. When the Fund is dissolved, the municipalities will buy them back at a fixed price. As luck would have it, there are still a few of these houses all over Belgium, some have even been classified as historical monuments. The architect Moenaert built a solid reputation thanks to this enormous logistical effort and participated as architect in prestigious projects such as the Logis Floréal in Waetermael Boisfort or the universal exhibitions of Antwerp (1930) and Brussels (1958). He died at the canonical age of 95 in 1977. The solid silver inkwell mounted on green marble, engraved "Souvenir du Fonds du Roi Albert à Mr. Moenaert", discreetly reminds us of this enormous logistical feat long forgotten. ....