Large Vintage Terracotta Ashtray with Abstract Decoration, 1930s

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MEASUREMENTS:
Diameter: 24.5 cm; Depth: 4.5 cm; Weight: 0.940 kg

Item :
A magnificent terracotta cigar ashtray, entirely modeled and … Read more MEASUREMENTS:
Diameter: 24.5 cm; Depth: 4.5 cm; Weight: 0.940 kg

Item :
A magnificent terracotta cigar ashtray, entirely modeled and decorated by hand. This piece stands out among modern art for its exceptional sculptural vigor and chromatic impact. The large ashtray features a central basin in a deep, opaque cobalt blue, from which two geometric grooves branch out, framing the circular rim. The rim is decorated with a complex polychrome composition, where saturated, dense glazes redefine the surface's boundaries. The work is a triumph of visual dynamism: curved lines intersect asymmetrically with sharp diagonals, alternating fields of red, yellow, and olive green. The hand-applied color, evident in the micro-shades of the glazes, lends the piece a vibrant authenticity, while the back reveals the clay-like purity of the unglazed, natural terracotta, testifying to an entirely artisanal process. Although the work bears no signatures or trademarks, a detail suggesting its nature as a prototype or a unique atelier piece, the graphic and decorative design unmistakably points to the expressive universe of Fortunato Depero and his immediate circle. The most refined and revealing element is the inclusion of the contrasting yellow and blue checkerboard, a true Depero style borrowed from the famous designs for Futurist waistcoats, cloth tapestries, and historic advertising graphics of the 1920s and 1930s. The composition rejects the analytical disintegration of Severini's Cubism, embracing instead the concept of a "Futurist reconstruction of the universe": the curvilinear lines of force and juxtaposed semicircles generate a movement that is both mechanical and playful, seeming to evoke the gears of an automaton or a stylized face in motion. See less