Salt cellar with the figures of mermaids

The presented salt cellar with the figures of mythical mermaids is an impressive work of mannerism, a late Renaissance tendency in European art, which assumed considerable freedom of the artist's imagination and fantasy. They were visible in the rich form of a square salt shaker, erected on legs in the shape of lion's feet and decorated with four figurines of winged mermaids on the corners. The salt cellar was made in the majolica technique, the products of which in Urbino took exceptionally rich shapes.

The surface is decorated with grotesque motifs - figures of fantastic animals on a white background. This type of decoration, rich in figures of chimeras, sphinxes, griffins and other mythical animals, spread under the influence of the discoveries of ancient wall painting, especially the Golden House of Nero in Rome. Grotesques were painted by Raphael Santi in the frescoes of the Vatican Logias (around 1519), they also became more widely used in Urbino ceramics from the beginning of the 1660s. They were particularly characteristic of the products of the last great workshop of this city - the Patanazzi family. The salt cellar probably comes from the workshop of the painter Alfonso Patanazzi, where parade sets of dishes were created for the ruling princely families in Italy.