Rosewood Sun Ashtray

A rosewood-framed ashtray with an inset silver sun face, its rays extending outward, pairs warm wood with a charged Mexican motif. The stylized sun belonged to the indigenous imagery Spratling's designers drew on to give their work a Mexican identity (Stromberg, p. 25), set here at the center of a useful object. The piece is recorded in Penny Morrill's William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance: Maestros de Plata.

Its history is unusual. The design never appeared in any Spratling catalogue but is described in Spratling's notes to Manuel Jimenez, general manager of Spratling y Artesanos, dated August 13, 1945. It dates from the first design period.

A piece documented only in the workshop's internal correspondence rather than in any sales catalogue is a rare survival, and the sun-face inset ties it firmly to Spratling's Mexican design sources.