Stefano Ricci SR Octagonal Ashtray — Crystal Glass Black / Gold

Stefano Ricci SR Octagonal Ashtray — Crystal Glass Black / Gold

Crystal glass colored black is a material with its own logic. Unlike porcelain, where a black glaze is applied to and rests on the surface of the piece, black crystal glass is colored through the body of the material — the chromophore is distributed throughout the glass itself, and the light that enters the piece does not reflect from a surface glaze but is absorbed within the material. The result is a depth that glaze-on-porcelain cannot produce: the piece appears to extend inward, the black resolving into the body of the crystal rather than stopping at a surface.

This is different in character from the Paisley crystal glass — which is transparent and uses its transparency as the primary visual condition of the piece — but belongs to the same material family. Both are crystal; both are 20 cm octagonal forms; both carry gold cigar rests. The Paisley piece is defined by light transmission — what passes through it. The Black piece is defined by light absorption — what it takes in and holds.

Black Crystal Glass

The ashtray body is black crystal glass — the material dense and solid in appearance despite the physical structure of glass beneath it. At 20 cm the piece is a substantial table presence: large enough to read as a statement object on a desk or bar surface, controlled enough in form that the statement is about material and proportion rather than ornament. The octagonal edges catch light along their lengths — the hard geometry of the form present against the depth of the black glass in the only visual event the piece requires.

Dual Cigar Rests / Gold

Two gold cigar rests are set into the structure of the piece. Gold against black crystal is the most direct of material contrasts — warm, reflective metal against absorptive, cool glass — and at the scale of cigar rests the contrast is precise rather than decorative. The gold holds position against the black without competing with it.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.