Cleveland Museum of Art

Triple Salt Cellar

Mennecy Factory

Date

c. 1765

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Culture

France

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In 16th-century France, salt was costly and often displayed in exceptionally designed and decorated salt cellars that reinforced wealth and status. Still elegantly designed and ornamented, this triple salt cellar is small, a result of the decreasing decorative and symbolic importance of salt in the latter half of the 1700s. With its floral decoration and whimsical monkey-shaped handle, this object’s design is characteristic of the Rococo style. This triple salt cellar might have held a variety of ingredients including powdered spices, celery or garlic salt.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.