Property from a Swiss Private Collection, Lots 630–637 formerly in the Rothschild Collection
Probably the Workshop of the Patanazzi Family, Italian, Urbino, circa 1580-1600
Salt Cellar
Auction Closed
February 7, 08:37 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Swiss Private Collection, Lots 630–637 formerly in the Rothschild Collection
Probably the Workshop of the Patanazzi Family
Italian, Urbino, circa 1580-1600
Salt Cellar
the salt cellar supported by three dragons, the well and the base decorated a grottesche on a white ground, with borders of gadroon and egg-and-dart motifs
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
height: 5 ½ in.; 14 cm
Camille Leprince, 2014.
The central presence of a salt cellar on the Renaissance table, whether of precious metal or other materials, reflected the essential culinary and symbolic importance of salt.
In Urbino, salts of this type seem to have been a Patanazzi workshop specialty from the 1580s and perhaps earlier, and salts alongside sculptural inkstands (calamai) appear in the Urbino ducal inventories.1 A nearly identical late 16th century salt is in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. No. phi 1689).2
We are grateful to Professor Timothy Wilson and Mrs. Greta Kaucher for their invaluable contributions to the research on this entry.
1 F. Sangiorgi, ‘Credenza de vasi a grotesche del Patanazzo… saliere quattre’ in Documenti urbinati : inventari del Palazzo Ducale (1582-1631) , Urbino 1976, p. 193;
2 A. N. Kube, Italian Majolica XV ‑ XVIII centuries. State Hermitage Collection, Moscow, 1976, no. 88.