Description:
English delft circular standing salt with a pink-toned white glaze. Delftwares covered with a plain white glaze achieved the greatest popularity in the seventeenth century; the lack of decoration focuses attention on the form itself. English delftware salts were made in a number of different shapes and sizes but this particular type of spool-form salt was the one most commonly found. This salt with its spool or hourglass shape, shallow circular recess at the top, three scrolls, and broad, circular foot copies a mid-seventeenth century London silver form (the form in English silver appeared c. 1630). The earliest dated example of this type of salt is inscribed "A.W. 1675." Salts similar to this example have been excavated in several London production sites, including Pickleherring and Rotherhithe potteries. Known at the time as "Curles salts," the scrolls may have supported a napkin or dish. This example exhibits wear on the tops of the scrolls, suggesting that it fulfilled a utilitarian, rather than a purely decorative, role. In the Middle Ages, salt was an expensive commodity and salt cellars occupied a place of importance on the table. Those seated "below the salt" were lower within the social hierarchy than those seated above it. In the 17th century, the large, ceremonial standing salt gave way to the smaller scroll salt. Small salts of drum or trencher form placed at intervals on the dining table became common in the 18th century. Fragments of English delftware scroll salts were unearthed in a circa 1690 context at the Joseph Pettit site in James City County, Virginia. A white three-scrolled salt survives with a history of ownership by James Heaton (d. 1712) of New Haven, Connecticut, and other salts have histories linking them to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire at an early date.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+61.247 |
