Vintage Freeform Ashtray in Natural Carved Agate, 1970s

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The beauty generated by Nature has been represented and used as raw material in the artistic production of man since … Read more The beauty generated by Nature has been represented and used as raw material in the artistic production of man since ever Nature has been scratched on the walls of a cave in the Paleolithic, depicted in the frescoes of the Renaissance or painted on a canvas by Caravaggio during the Baroque, using its own fruits through refining processes; therefore molluscs, plants and minerals, such as malachite, lapis lazuli and greenockite have been used by man to depict the world in color as he saw it. Minerals are still used today for multiple uses but I would not underestimate the contemplative one. Multicolored layers and veins enchant us in addition to the supposed beneficial properties and so why limit ourselves to carrying them for a walk forced into small pendants when we can observe them in their free form from our sofa? The item we offer for sale is made by partially smoothing and sculpting a portion of mineral with stunning color, to be precise an Agate to create a vide-poche or ashtray. I imagine it on a bedside table to rest the earrings or rings that we have worn all day and that tomorrow we will wear again, or as an ashtray near a bathtub. The free shape and the edges left rough constitute the perfect balance between the raw charm of nature and the desire of man to discipline it, with his intervention of smoothing and carving. See less