Few basic changes have been made to the salt cellar since the eighteenth century, and even those produced today in sterling silver or electro-plate are usually exact, or very close, copies of their predecessors. From time to time, of course, designers have endeavoured to break away from

established forms, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has a superb Art Nouveau specimen in parcel-gilt by C. R. Ashbee which incorporates amber and a small figure, the latter being characteristic of Ashbee’s work, but this ‘salt‘ would be considered too ornate for general use. An interesting example of 1866 by Stephen Smith was of frosted silver with figures of sowers and men carrying baskets of seeds upon their backs.

Elegant, antique salt cellars are in demand, although great care should be taken to ensure that they are cleaned properly. Probably most popular of all are the neo-classical pierced versions with Bristol blue-glass liners, which show the intricate piercing in sharp relief. These have been produced since the 1760s, worked at first by hand with the fret-saw and later stamped by the fly-press, the latter method piercing considerable numbers. Always much in demand has been an oval form, standing on four decorative feet, made in either sterling silver or Sheffield plate, and of a rounded or polygonal shape. The boat-shaped cellar, with a short stem balanced by an oval spreading foot, was typical of the neo-classical period from about 1770, and retained its popularity until around 1825. It is among the most elegant of designs and has been understandably copied ever since.

Antique Collector MagazineIn common with the shapes of domestic vessels, a rounded oblong salt cellar on four ball feet was another prominent design from approximately 1805 until about 1820, while the variously-pierced circular, straight-sided shape with three or four feet remained in vogue until the middle of the nineteenth century and later. Victorian salt cellars, in common with other domestic items of the time, were subject to a revival of most previous styles and ornament, including rococo, Greek and Roman classicism, ancient Egyptian motifs and naturalism. The pleasing bowl or cauldron shape, which had appeared originally in about 1730, was included among such revivals. These stood upon three or four feet, including hoof and scallop shapes, and the short legs curved attractively into the bowl. The joints thus formed were decorated with lions’ heads, rams’ heads, cherubs and other contemporary ornament, and these were linked around the bowl by embossed swags and festoons. Victorian and Edwardian revivals range from the over-decorated to the fair copy. The ordinary, basic trencher salt was made in circular, square, triangular and octagonal shapes and was the first type of ‘cellar‘ to emerge after the great salt fell into disuse during the seventeenth century. Such salts are among the few designs which have not been copied extensively, due no doubt to their solid appearance, although a spool shape which appeared during the reign of George I is still emulated.

Epergnes

These ornamental table pieces have undergone a revival of interest in recent years with the increased knowledge of antiques generally. Epergnes, or centrepieces as they are sometimes known, were produced in many forms, both elaborate and simple, but certainly always provided glamour at the table. They appeared during the 1720s, and one is recorded in a contemporary royal inventory as having ‘one table basket and cover, one foote, four salt boxes, four small salts, four branches, six casters and four sauceboats’. This gives a rough idea how these hanging devices with a central stem and branches saved space on the table, which was their original purpose, quite apart from their ornamental value. It was probably this latter quality, however, which was responsible for their rapid growth in fashion. They became exquisitely decorated with rococo ornament and were later bedecked with all manner of classical motifs. Others were in the Chinese style with elaborate pillars and delicately-pierced pagoda roofs and baskets, with their branches in the form of recurving scrolls.

Regency epergnes might be mounted on a platform with a central pillar upon which would be set a large cut-glass dish. Four branches would support small, matching dishes, and the entire piece would be heavily decorated. Victorian examples included both magnificent and quite simple, smaller versions. The former often incorporated an amazing mixture of figures with a general theme, which might be exotically naturalistic, Gothic or classical. Sheffield plate epergnes were probably produced in more diverse patterns than any other piece of comparable domestic plated silver, manufacturers devising a stream of ideas including perhaps as many as 250 patterns with which to tempt customers during the last decade of the eighteenth century and first 15 years or so of the nineteenth. These, too, took all kinds of forms and had grown excessively ornate by Victorian days, at which time they sometimes included coloured-glass liners or bowls.

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Table Silver Collection: Antique Salt cellars