Description: One of a pair of English blown, colorless, lead glass salts with hemispherical bowls, pontil mark on underside of the bases, and supported on three applied, cabriole (s-curved) legs, each with lion-mask prunts at the top and paw feet, a glass form that was inspired by rococo silver prototypes. Salt cellars fashioned of glass were displayed on many colonial American dining tables, especially in the second half of the 18th century. Boston merchant Henry Barnes (whose store was located on the lower end of King Street) advertised imported English "3 Feet Salts" in the "Boston Evening Post" on March 11, 1751; and "Glass Salts" were being sold by the Deerfield merchants, John Williams (1751-1816) and James Upham (1755-1827) in 1773. It is possible that the Deerfield-owned examples were of a plainer variety on a pedestal foot.
Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.3.1 |