The Fontana Salt 1575-1580 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Here, we see a salt cellar from Italy in the Sixteenth Century. It is boat-shaped and molded in relief, with a goat's head above a lion's mask at either end. Constructed of tin-glazed earthenware, it is polychrome painted with reclining figures of Neptune and Amphitrite, a Triton and a Nereid. In the well, above the initials AZ, a shield with a cut scroll-work border, is rendered with a helmet and mantling. Though the imagery seems strange, it is actually quite commonplace since, as salt was derived from the sea, sea-gods were thought to be appropriate decorative elements.
This sort of colorful tin-glazed earthenware was known in Italy as “maiolica.” Urbino was a famous center for the manufacture of maiolica and it is believed that this salt cellar came from a workshop in that area.
2 comments:
This is so neat! I like these older examples of Maiolica...which led to the popularity in the 19th century of the similarly named Majolica (which I have a great fondness for). Great post!
Yes, I thought this was a pretty salt and you can see the budding majolica colors in this early appearance.
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