Pair of mustard pots
During the eighteenth century, mustard was served at the table either as a dry powder or mixed with vinegar to form a paste or sauce. The dry powder was contained in a caster left un-pierced or fitted with a removable sleeve that blocked the holes. Most of the mustard pots in the Museum’s collection were made to serve the condiment mixed into a sauce; they take the form of a small jug barely distinguishable from a lidded milk jug with a spout. Some lidded pots have an opening to accommodate a small spoon.
The early eighteenth-century pots are cylindrical in shape, often with typical cut card decoration and applied lambrequins. By the 1740s, the rounded shapes of the Rococo with swirling forms and floral ornament predominate. Mustard pots were also made to resemble the wood barrels in which the ingredients would have been stored as seen in this pair by the Paris silversmith Louis Regnard.
Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture, and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, much of it provincial, and includes several rare early pieces.
The early eighteenth-century pots are cylindrical in shape, often with typical cut card decoration and applied lambrequins. By the 1740s, the rounded shapes of the Rococo with swirling forms and floral ornament predominate. Mustard pots were also made to resemble the wood barrels in which the ingredients would have been stored as seen in this pair by the Paris silversmith Louis Regnard.
Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture, and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, much of it provincial, and includes several rare early pieces.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pair of mustard pots
- Maker: Louis Regnard (master 1733, died 1779)
- Date: 1740–42
- Culture: French, Paris
- Medium: Silver
- Dimensions: Height (each): 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)
- Classification: Metalwork-Silver
- Credit Line: Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948
- Object Number: 48.187.94, .95
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Louis Regnard
1753–54
Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers
1775–76
François Thomas Germain
1757
Jacques Demé
1690–91
Daniel Govaers (or Gouers)
1734–35
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