Small Fontana Arte Glass Ashtray, 1950s

Milan, 1950s. Fontana Arte, a house founded in 1932 around Gio Ponti and Pietro Chiesa, was then at the height of its work in thick glass, cut and polished like a precious stone. This small ashtray is a crisp, luminous expression of it. The piece is cut from a rectangular plate of soft green glass with corners cut into facets, its polished bevels catching the light in emerald reflections. At the centre, a shallow round well, smooth as a lens, is flanked by several cigarette rests cut into the thickness. No decoration: the cut and the transparency make the whole object. Good condition of use: the glass is clear and the tint intact. A few micro-chips, visible in the photos, mark the edges, but nothing serious given the age of the piece. At 13.5 cm long by 10 cm wide and 2 cm high, this small ashtray sits on a desk, coffee table or console, and also makes an elegant catch-all. A precise, discreet object, signed by one of the great houses of Italian glass.