IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Pair of Blue and White Heart-Shaped Salt Cellars

Delft, circa 1680-1690

One marked 16 or 91 in blue

Each painted in the slightly recessed well with a bird perched either on a leafy branch or on a rock beside a flowering plant, the inner border of the well with scroll devices repeated around the waisted central section below, the outer border with ruyi heads alternating with petal devices echoed in the border around the base of the first, the other with three larger ruyi-shaped panels of blossoms and scrolls alternating with larger scroll devices, and each raised on three low disc-shaped feet.

Height: 6.3 cm.(2 1/2 in.); length: 10.8 cm. (4 1/4 in.)

Provenance: Collection Mrs. M., New York State, USA

The importance of salt far transcends its modern use as seasoning. Throughout history, salt’s ability to preserve food for both transport and consumption was the foundation of mankind’s survival, and over the millennia it became an essential commodity of trade and taxation, the basis of national economies, and even the cause of wars. By the sixteenth century, salt cellars often were crafted as works of art in precious materials, and they appear as such in seventeenth-century Dutch still life paintings that depict various kinds of earthly treasures, but often to emphasize the transitoriness of life. By the end of the seventeenth century and into the eighteenth century, salt cellars tended to become less ceremonial, and when used on a dining table, their capacity was reduced considerably, not just as a matter of aesthetics and scale, but as a reminder that salt for seasoning was still a luxury and not to be squandered.

It is rare to find early salts still together as an original pair, particularly a pair of such an unusual shape, in which even a single example is a rarity. Single salt cellars with blue and white chinoiserie patterns from the late seventeenth century can be found in various shapes, largely based on silver prototypes. A square salt cellar with a crowned monogram, marked for Samuel van Eenhoorn, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) Factory from 1678 to 1687, in the collection of Palace Het Loo, Apeldoorn, is illustrated in Erkelens 1996, p. 143, no. 36. A similarly-marked, lobed diabolo-shaped salt, 10.8 cm. (4 1/4 in.) high, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is illustrated by Van Dam 2004, p. 83, ill. 41. An octagonal diabolo-shaped salt, 14 cm. (5 1/2 in.) high, produced by his successor Adrianus Koxc, owner of De Grieksche A from 1687 to 1701, in the Umeleckoprumyslove Museum, Prague, is illustrated in Kybalová 1973, p. 34, no. 22, where the author further illustrates on p. 28, no. 13, a pair of armorial salt cellars of triangular shape from the Lobkovic service, marked for Lambertus Cleffius, owner of De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) Factory from 1679 to 1691.