Villeroy & Boch Chez Pruniers Ashtray Dish

Our porcelain ashtray represents a noteworthy example of mid-century commercial ceramics produced by Villeroy & Boch for prominent European institutions.
Commissioned by the celebrated Parisian seafood restaurant Chez Prunier, the piece reflects the intersection of industrial manufacture, restaurant branding, and graphic design during the postwar period.
Executed in underglaze cobalt blue on a white porcelain body, the ashtray features a stylized depiction of Neptune, rendered with rhythmic linework characteristic of mid-century illustration.
The surrounding inscription, "chez Pruniers à Paris toute la mer," integrates hand-drawn script with maritime motifs, reinforcing the restaurant's identity as a specialist in French seafood cuisine. The attribution "dessiné par Mathieu Mieg" on the reverse identifies the work of Mathieu Mieg, an in-house designer. The ashtray's petite, shallow form and three notched rests reflect its original use in the chic dining rooms of Prunier, where such branded ceramics were reserved for in-house service and never sold to the public.
The ashtray was most likely produced between 1950 and 1960, and pieces like this are now prized for their scarcity as well as their distinctive blend of culinary nostalgia and bold graphic design.
In all its whimsy, the dish would look playful hanging on a wall, or elegant atop a stack of coffee tables books.

Sourced in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dimensions: 6''D