Ashtray Gustav Gurschner ca. 1908

Among the objects of everyday use designed by Gustav Gurschner, we find also smoking utensils, classic accessories for a “gentleman’s room” or a smoking salon in his time.
In this ashtray, both the form and ornamentation are intriguing. The tower-like match-holder rising from a round bowl lends the object a sacred quality. The eclectic arrangement of various patterns, in turn, lends a mysterious air to the ornamentation. Here, we find spiral patterns and endless knots alongside pearl-like embellishments and other elements arranged in a flat manner.
This bronze vessel shows impressively a visible renewal of formal language in applied arts that occurred around the turn of the 20th century. The question how objects of applied art should be decorated occupied many artists of the time, including the sculptor Gustav Gurschner.
The ashtray is signed “Gurschner” and, like many other objects designed by the artist, was executed by the foundry Kunst-Erzgiesserei Wien.