Agate salt cellar

The salt cellar is distinguished by the use of an expensive decorative stone, agate. Decorative, colored and translucent stripes, visible in the structure of the stone, were perfectly exposed in the shape of the vessel, which was intended both for serving salt and for admiring. In the Middle Ages, such luxurious items, testifying to the power and wealth of the owner, were sometimes made of gold, shells, coconut, rock crystal, amethyst, serpentine, jasper and other rare materials. The agate used comes from the Idar-Oberstein area in southwestern Germany, a famous stone mining and processing center.