Salt Cellar

In the 17th century, salt was a precious substance for which elaborate silver display pieces were made. This masterpiece, by the Utrecht silver smith Adam van Vianen, is embossed in a single piece of silver. The cellar consists of a salt dish with lobule ornaments, which is supported by a female Bacchant, a nymph of the God Bacchus. She is seated on the back of a satyr and rests on a foot with lobule ornaments and shells. A vine rises behind the frolicking figures and its leaves cover the bottom of the dish.