Chats on Household CuriosBurgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
History
Chats on Household Curios
Burgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
Antiques; Collectors and collecting; Interior decoration
The condiments of the table were usually supplied in separate vessels.
The use of salt with meat goes back to primitive times, although we have
few records of the vessels in which it was served. The Arab chief offers
his guest salt as an act of friendship, and as such it is partaken of.
The classic Ancients consecrated salt before using it, and the salt
cellar was placed upon the table together with the first fruits "for the
gods," those to whom they were offered being generally Hercules or
Mercury. The Greek salt cellars were shaped like bowls, and as the salt
became an important feature as a dividing line between rich and poor,
the size of the cellar grew. To realize the importance of the salt
cellar in mediaeval England, we have only to visit the Tower of London,
where the great salt cellars of State are kept. The large standing salt
was the dividing line upon the table. Salt cellars dating from the
fourteenth century are in existence, and many curiously shaped designs
intervened before the bell-shaped salts which were fashionable in the
days of Elizabeth and the trencher salts of Queen Anne and the early
Georges. Salt cellars with feet came into fashion in the reign of George
II; then followed many minor changes until the beautifully perforated
salt cellars with blue liners bearing hall-marks dating from the close
of the eighteenth century came into vogue. It is from among the Georgian
table appointments that collectors gather most of their specimens. The
materials of which these salt cellars were made vary; there are sterling
silver, antique pewter, and Sheffield plate; and there are salt cellars
of china and porcelain which may well be included in a collection of
table curios.
Cruet Stands.
The separate bottles or cruets, casters, mustard pots, and very rarely
salts, were gradually gathered together and placed in a frame which grew
big in late Georgian and early Victorian days. For convenience the stand
was placed in the centre of the table, and often made to revolve. Such
cruets are met with in silver and other metals, also in papier-mache,
often ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and painted flowers. The greatest
interest, however, is found in collecting separate bottles, such as
those charming Bristol glass cruets, ornamented with flowers and
lettered with the names of their contents, such as "VINEGAR," "SALAD
OIL," "MUSTARD," "PEPPER."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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