Round Modernist Silver Ashtray

A small, heavy ashtray of plain silver resting on a simple shaped round base. There is no ornament to speak of, and that restraint is the point: Spratling's domestic objects often relied on weight, proportion, and a clean silhouette rather than decoration, the substance of the silver carrying the piece.

Ashtrays were a standard part of the workshop's hollowware output and were among the categories of Spratling's work shown in the 1965 McNay exhibition "The World of William Spratling" (Morrill, p. 77).

Made at the Taller de Las Delicias he founded in Taxco in 1931, this is a modest example of his everyday silver. With no recorded reference and only the plain form to go on, its appeal lies in the heft and proportion that distinguished his domestic pieces.