Salt Cellar

Dateca. 1675

MediumEarthenware, tin-glazed (delft)

DimensionsDiam. 4 1/8" (10.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1956-425

DescriptionSalt Cellar: Shallow circular cup with flat rim on broad flared foot; three ram's horn finials mounted on rim. White tin glaze.
Label TextThe form of this delft salt copies that of silver salts, which were introduced into England from the Continent about 1630. The ram's horn, or scroll, finials were intended to raise the object to a more dominant height on the table as a receptacle for a fruit plate, as seen in Dutch still life paintings. A privately owned example of this form is dated 1675 and decorated with lotus and other oriental flowers. Another version is ornamented with white on a blue ground in the Nevers style. An undecorated piece is now at the George Gardner Museum in Toronto. The 1699 inventory of the Pickleherring potteries lists salts of this type as "Curles salts," as well as "white plain salts" and "new fashioned salts," in two sizes, "midle" and "small." The decoration on the other recorded examples relates to London attributed pieces. Scrolls and other fragments that appear to be from salts of this type have been excavated at Jamestown Island in Virginia.
InscribedNo
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceA. F. Allbrook, Old English Antiques, Pottery & Porcelain, London