Conch Shell Ashtray

The cross-section of a conch shell, rendered in silver by the repousse process and mounted on a rosewood base, makes this small ashtray a piece of natural form translated into metal: the spiraling interior of the shell, pushed up from the back of the sheet, gives the dish its relief and its subject. The marine motif and the wood-and-silver pairing are both characteristic of the workshop.

The ashtray belongs to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946. Repousse, the technique of raising a design from the reverse, let Spratling render an organic form like the conch with depth and movement, and the dark rosewood base sets the bright shell off. The marriage of silver to a warm hardwood is one of the workshop's consistent devices.

The piece is recorded in Penny C. Morrill and Carole A. Berk's Mexican Silver and in Phyllis M. Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide. A well-documented marine-motif object combining repousse silver with rosewood, it is among the more collectible of the small desk pieces.