Bronze Hound's Art Collection: Seated Indian and Buffalo Skull Dish or Tray

When I purchased this for my collection, I wasn't quite sure if I should write this up as Fine Art or Antique. I suppose that it could be seen as both or either. Many of the bronze sculptures of Charles Marion Russell were designed as pipe holders or ash trays, but are considered fine art. Then again, most decorated ash trays fall far short of that definition. This one I consider to be somewhere in between.

This dish or tray appears at first blush to be made of bronze, but upon closer inspection is actually painted spelter or pot metal. The finish is very fine, there is quite a bit of detail in the piece, and I can't help but think that had it been cast of bronze that it would have been on par with Vienna bronzes at least. Who says art cannot be functional?

This figural dish depicts an Indian seated with his legs crossed, wearing a loin cloth and moccasins and holding a pipe, contemplating a buffalo skull on the other side of the dish. The Indian is attached to the tray with a screw from underneath, though the buffalo skull is part of the base casting. There is a number on the bottom, 793, which I believe to be a catalog or mold number versus edition size or number. Usually pieces like these were sold as souvenirs or desktop decorations. I'm just guessing, but I'd date this as originating anywhere from the 1920's to the 1950's. Indeed, it may have been made and sold for decades. I don't know. Still in all, it's quite an eye-catching piece and is in excellent condition, and definitely has a place in my collection!

Edit: In looking at this piece for photographing, I noticed just how extremely filthy it really was. The pictures make it look much cleaner and brighter than in reality. I decided tonight to gently clean it up a bit, using mild dish soap and water. I unscrewed the Indian from the base (considering where they put the screw, I think they really were going for anatomically correct!). While the base still shows stains from many cigarettes and lots of tobacco ash, the Indian (who was also covered in tobacco residue) started to come surprisingly clean. The details that began to emerge really startled me. His eyes and eyebrows are very delicately painted on. He has amazingly sculpted abs! His loincloth, painted a faded red, sits pooled in his lap under his arms. The paint on the pipe and his moccasins brightened quite a bit. It's not quite clean enough for me to wax it and call it done, but with a couple more gentle cleanings I think it'll look really beautiful. I'll post new pictures once it's there.

Update 01/18: I recently found an older auction listing featuring a silvered version of this piece. It had been engraved around the rim with this - "Souvenir de notre voyage en Amérique Mai 1927 M. et J. Ferber," which translates literally from French to "Remembering our trip to America May 1927 M. and J. Ferber," but can also be read "Souvenir of our trip to America May 1927 M. and J. Ferber." So there's a date finally! I also spotted a recently completed sale on a well known site that hosts antiques, arts and fine crafts dealers and artisans that was of quite a bit of interest. The recently sold ashtray featured the same Indian, though bronze plated instead of either silver plate or cold painted white metal (like mine), but the ashtray itself was quite different. It was made of hammered brass (or bronze, but it looks like brass), was round and deep for an ashtray, and had three cigarette rests. It looked possible to me that the Indian may have been added to the ashtray by a prior owner, it just had that "feel" to me. There was no mention of any manufacturers' marks on either of these, nor any pictures of such. Research is ongoing!