Silver with a Pinch of Salt
Silver and glass salts with silver spoons, Alex Ramsay
The Goldsmiths’ Company’s spring exhibition, Silver with a Pinch of Salt, looks at the silver salt cellar, a vessel with a surprisingly long and important history (until 25 April).
This show focuses on the history and design of the salt cellar from the Middle Ages onwards, with a few detours into the social and cultural history of eating and entertaining.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance salt cellars were given pride of place on the dining table as salt was both incredibly expensive and crucial for the preservation of meat in the pre-refrigerator age. As a result salt cellars became important status symbols and grew out of all proportion to the little grains they protected, turning into giant centrepieces often crawling with elaborate modelled figures, fruits and animals. The exhibition includes one such piece dating from 1589 on loan from the Salters’ Company – it’s very richly decorated and underlines the contemporary belief that the more decoration on an object, the wealthier (and therefore more important) the owner.
The exhibition includes several equally impressive vessels from the 18th century, but one of the most interesting dates from the 20th century and is a 37cm-tall ceremonial salt cellar commissioned from Stanley Morris by the Salters’ Company to commemorate the Festival of Britain. The exhibition ends with a good selection of contemporary designs, including Rod Kelly’s Millennium Salt and Alex Ramsay’s elegant twin silver and glass vessels – its restraint a marked contrast to the exuberance (and excesses) of the earlier examples.
www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk
