This extraordinary bronze inkwell is a self-portrait by the French actress Sarah Bernhardt, showing herself with the wings of a bat, the body of a gryphon and the tail of a fish. Best known as an actress, Bernhardt was also an accomplished writer, painter and especially sculptor, a role that was, in effect, a second vocation to her. She was taught to sculpt by Mathieu-Meusnier and Jules Franceschi and took courses on anatomy. Although criticised in the press for working as a sculptor alongside her acting roles, her works were exhibited regularly in the Paris Salon in the last decades of the nineteenth century and she was featured in the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Her sculptures ranged from the monumental to the small scale, in both bronze and marble.

Bernhardt was known for playing controversial roles. The self-portrait may have been inspired by a part she played in 1874 in Le Sphinx, although it may equally be an attempt to capture the concept of her ability to transform herself on and off stage. The inkwell was a gift to Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, probably at around the time of its production in 1880. The Prince displayed it in his study in his London residence, Marlborough House.