Crystal ashtray designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte 1940

Extraordinary solid crystal ashtray designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte in the 1940s. The work perfectly expresses the poetics of the master, capable of fusing architectural rigour and sculptural grace through a noble and luminous material. Made from a single block of crystal, hand-ground and polished, the ashtray features a square and rigorous layout, in which the concave centre, carved with geometric precision, dialogues with the flat surfaces and with the bevelled edges. Chiesa, founder and artistic director of Fontana Arte from 1932 until his death in 1948, was one of the absolute pioneers of artistic glass and crystal working. He conceived timeless forms, capable of combining the precision of cutting with the softness of light, anticipating research on the relationship between transparency and volume that would mark postwar Italian design. The crystal, with its delicate aqua-green tone, still retains its original luminosity and reveals, when lit, a fascinating play of depth and reflections. In good vintage condition, with natural small signs of time and slight surface oxidations due to age, which do not compromise the overall beauty. An emblematic object of the rational and poetic elegance that made Fontana Arte an icon of Italian modernism.