Scrolled Rosewood Ashtray

A raised silver ashtray sits on a scroll-edged rosewood base, with a band of scrolled silver set into the wood beneath the pedestal, layering metal and wood into a single object. The pairing of rosewood with silver is the material contrast Spratling favored in his table pieces, the warmth of wood against reflective metal that Morrill links to Jean Puiforcat (Morrill, p. 224).

The ashtray belongs to the first design period, 1931-1946, and shows the workshop building a functional object up from layered materials, the scrollwork its only ornament.

Mounted ashtrays combining wood and silver of this date survive in limited numbers.