Salt cellar in the shape of an elongated cup

The precise determination of the authorship, time, and place of the creation of this work is possible thanks to the marking, which, in the past, was to testify the occurrence of precious metal, and nowadays is the source of information about the history of the object; its interpretation, however, often requires detective work. The name hallmark, with the initials of the master JBC, is minted inside the bowl, and, next to it, there are two more signs: 1) with the intertwined initials HC, Henry Clavel, minted while working on the product; 2) a stylized letter under the crown – the sign of the Assay Office in Paris for the period from 12 July 1786 to 11 July 1787. In addition, on the edge of the base, there is also the sign of a stylized bird’s head, minted in 1786–1789. It was applied by the royal tenant office after completing the work and after paying the appropriate fees, issuing the permission to sell. The fifth sign is the so-called Austrian contribution hallmark, minted in Vienna in the years 1806–1807. It provides information about the history of the salt cellar, as it testifies to its journey to the territories of the Habsburg countries already several years after being produced