Description:
Round or circular three-footed creamware salt decorated with alternating green and yellow spots or splashes, which has a history of ownership in the Donley family of Phillipston, Massachusetts. A typed label is associated with this salt (now in a plastic sleeve in the data file) reads: "This little dish was / brought [sic] in Phillipston, before / there was any store in Athol./ It was one of Grandma Donley's / choicest possessions." Salt, whether purchased locally or imported, was a staple of the 18th-century American diet. In a time before refrigeration, this mineral played a crucial role in preserving meat, fish, and some vegetables. Finer, purer, and more expensive grades of salt filled salt cellars on the table, often displayed in sets of two or more. Diners dipped their fingers to pinch out a bit of salt to season their food. The body of the salt flares slightly at the top, indents and bulges in the middle, and has a curved base, three molded shell feet, and two beaded rouletted borders at the bottom and at the top rim.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2008.26.1 |
