Pair of salt or pepper boxes

Pair of salt or pepper boxes

Edme-Pierre Balzac

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

By the late 17th century, salt, which had been contained in extraordinarily ornate receptacles during the medieval and renaissance periods, had lost its prior ceremonial significance. Changes in customs and dining practices led to spice and condiments being used at a diner’s discretion. New, much smaller, forms developed during the eighteenth century. Salt or pepper boxes were generally made in sets so that each diner could have one within easy reach. It is uncertain which spices were contained in these receptacles, although the two hinged scallop-shell covers and the scallop-shell motif on the base may allude to the marine origins of salt. Examples of salt or pepper boxes of this model were made in Paris as early as the 1740s and continued to be produced in the provinces until the 1770s.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of salt or pepper boxesPair of salt or pepper boxesPair of salt or pepper boxesPair of salt or pepper boxesPair of salt or pepper boxes

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.