Liebermann: Hand-Signed Mid-Century Turquoise Glaze Ashtrays, 2

A spectacular and highly collectible pair of mid-century South African design artifacts, these authentic hand-thrown studio ashtrays stand as a beautiful testament to the post-war ceramic movement.

Masterfully created at the historic Liebermann Pottery workshops in Johannesburg, the heavy-gauge, thick-rimmed circular architecture features wide, hand-pressed resting rests optimized for cigars or pipes. The vessels are coated in Liebermann’s highly coveted, elusive running turquoise glaze—a deep, vibrant teal pool that beautifully transitions into smoky sea-green currents inside the basin, punctuated by organic iron-brown bleeding that hugs the rolled rims. The physical documentation provides absolute ironclad proof of provenance. The unglazed terracotta base footprint of one vessel features the sharply hand-incised script signature reading "Liebermann," carved directly into the damp clay before its initial kiln run, while the matching companion bowl features a clean, un-signed base ring showing the identical clay swirl and glaze template. Entirely free from modern cracks or hairline fractures, this gorgeous matching pair is an elite, functional archive find for a mid-century modern design purist or an avid studio pottery collector.

Original Intended Use: Premium artisan cigar, pipe, or cigarette studio ashtrays. Alternate suggested use: Exquisite catch-all vanity dishes for jewellery, architectural soap dishes, or stylized trinket bowls to inject rich mid-century colour into a curated interior.