Elie Bleu Fire Horse Porcelain Ashtray with Gold Bridges

Elie Bleu Fire Horse Porcelain Ashtray with Gold Bridges

The cigar ashtray has a function that looks simple and is not: it must hold the cigar at the right angle, keep it away from the ash it produces, and do this in a way that does not interrupt the experience it supports. Elie Bleu's answer is the porcelain ashtray with gold bridges — two gold-plated rests that hold the cigar elevated, suspended above the bowl, the foot of the cigar clear of the ash below. The porcelain is Limoges: France's finest, made from kaolin clay, fired to the translucency that the decoration requires. The Fire Horse image — the Bing Wu, the year 2026's sixty-year designation — is applied to that surface by chromolithography, a process in which each layer of color is set by hand, guaranteeing the precision and depth that the design demands.

Limoges Porcelain / Chromolithography

Chromolithography is a printing process that, at this level, is inseparable from the hands of the artisan who applies it. Each color in the Fire Horse image — the warmth of the fire field, the depth of the horse's form, the sharpness of the outlines — is laid in sequence, each layer registered by hand to achieve the final resolution. Gold details accent the composition, connecting the porcelain ashtray visually to the other pieces in the Fire Horse collection: the gold metallic transfer details in the marquetry humidors, the gold accents across the accessories. The ashtray is made and decorated in France; its Alcantara base pads protect the surface beneath it without interfering with the profile of the piece.

Two Gold Bridges / Two Cigar Rests

The gold bridges hold the cigar above the bowl at the angle that keeps the ash from affecting the smoke. The design is a signature of the Elie Bleu porcelain ashtray format — present across the Maison's lineup because it works, because the alternative is an ashtray that functions as a receptacle rather than a tool. Two rests accommodate two cigars, which is the correct supply for the kind of afternoon that the table where this ashtray sits is designed to support. Width 19.8 cm, depth 16.1 cm, height 3.6 cm — present without imposing.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.