Art Deco Onyx and Patinated Metal Elephant Desk Tray

A desk accessory of the interwar years, comprising a naturalistically modelled elephant mounted to a square block of banded pale green onyx. The pachyderm is cast in metal—likely spelter or bronze—with trunk raised in a traditional gesture of good fortune, striding along the upper perimeter of the plinth. The surface retains traces of an earlier patinated or cold-painted finish, now worn through handled areas to reveal the base metal beneath.

The plinth is worked from a single slab of translucent onyx, carved with chamfered edges and hollowed with a shallow circular dish to receive pins, seals, or cigar ash. Natural reddish veining traverses the stone beneath the figure's front feet. Typical of commercial Austrian or continental novelties produced during the Art Deco period, the piece combines tactile hardstone cutting with decorative animalier sculpture.