Octagonal Silver and Ebony Ashtray

This ashtray belongs to the silver Spratling designed for the Pierre Marques Hotel in Acapulco, a commission that placed his work in a specific commercial setting beyond the domestic table. That origin gives the piece a documented purpose and ties it to Spratling's late, third design period.

Octagonal in plan, the piece sets a silver-plate plate against an ebony body. Four conch-shell cross-section designs in brass, once silver plated, punctuate the form, joined by four silver-plated balls.

The pairing of ebony with plated metal reflects the material mixing Spratling pursued in the workshop he founded at Taxco, where native hardwoods and silver were combined throughout his production. The hotel commission shows that vocabulary applied to designed objects made to order.

The design is recorded in Phyllis M. Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide and dates to his third design period, 1951 to 1967.