Saltcellar

The attribution and date of this saltcellar are uncertain. The work bears close stylistic and technical similarities to the so-called “Saint-Porchaire” ceramics made in the second half of the sixteenth century at Saint-Porchaire (Deux-Sevres) and in the Paris region. Its architectural design recalls several authentic Saint-Porchaire saltcellars,(1) although the trilobed form of the shallow dish is unique and much larger than the salt receptacle on known Saint-Porchaire works. A second original feature of the saltcellar is the spiral staircase in the center of the pedestal, which alludes to the famous double spiral staircase at the Château de Chambord inspired by a 1519 design by Leonardo da Vinci. Decorative elements on the salt such as the standing nude boys wearing necklaces or the bearded-mask consoles appear with variation on other pieces, in keeping with Saint-Porchaire ceramics.(2) The impressed (inlaid) decoration is also consistent with Saint-Porchaire ceramics, although some of the patterns are simpler than on most known pieces. Less convincing as authentic Saint-Porchaire is the coat of arms in the center of the shallow dish with the jeweled coronet with fleurs-de-lis above the shield of the royal arms of France: three fleurs-de-lis surrounded by the collar and badge of the order of Saint Michael.(3) Its design and execution are almost identical to the royal arms of France on a pedestal dish in the Cleveland Museum of Art that is regarded as a nineteenth-century copy, per a comprehensive study of these ceramics published in 1996.(4) The Lehman saltcellar also shares a number of decorative elements — the bearded-mask consoles, the lion’s heads, and the arabesque pattern on the circular base — with another saltcellar in Cleveland, also discredited as authentic Saint-Porchaire ceramic in the same study.(5) The authors based their conclusion mainly on the composition of the clay, but also because the “techniques of these pieces are markedly different from the main ‘Saint-Porchaire’ group . . . employing neither inlaid design nor applied skins.”(6) Analyses of the Lehman salt demonstrate that the composition of the clay is similar to the Cleveland pieces.(7) The Lehman piece differs, however, as it was made using the complex techniques of impressed (inlaid) and applied decoration that are now firmly associated with authentic sixteenth-century Saint-Porchaire ceramics.(8) Moreover, the Lehman saltcellar and the Cleveland pieces share the same composition with two unquestionably genuine Saint-Porchaire fragments discovered at the archaeological site of Parthenay (Deux-Sevres). Technical results published in 2004 revealed the possibility that objects like the Lehman saltcellar, made by a similar technique and with a typical Saint-Porchaire decoration, could date from the sixteenth century, despite the fact that their clay composition differs from those of the majority of analyzed Saint-Porchaire ceramics.(9) With such contradictory data, it is not possible to firmly date the Lehman salt until further studies are conducted.(10)

Catalogue entry from: Charlotte Vignon. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 174-76.

Notes:
1. Saltcellars are the most common form now associated with Saint-Porchaire ceramics and survive in larger quantities than any other vessels. Of the fifty-three Saint-Porchaire pieces in public collections listed by Barbour and Sturman, (Barbour, Daphne, and Shelley Sturman. “Index of ‘Saint-Porchaire’ Ceramics in Public Collections.” In Saint-Porchaire Ceramics, edited by Daphne Barbour and Shelley Sturman, pp. 131 – 50. Studies in the History of Art 52. Monograph Series 2. National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1996), sixteen are saltcellars (including the Lehman work). On Saint-Porchaire saltcellars, see also Ecouen, Une orfevrerie de terre: Bernard Palissy et la céramique de Saint-Porchaire. Exhibition, Musee National de la Renaissance, Chateau d’Ecouen, 24 September 1997 –12 January 1998. Catalogue by Thierry Crepin-Leblond, with Jessie McNab et al. Paris, Écouen 1997, pp. 100 – 111, nos. 23 – 33; Wilson, Timothy H. “ ‘Saint-Porchaire.’” In Western Decorative Arts, pt. 1, Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles, including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics, by Rudolf Distelberger et al., pp. 242 – 63. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993, pp. 250 – 53.
2. Standing boys are seen on two saltcellars: Musée du Louvre (oa 1308) and Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (573), and on three candlesticks: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1942.9.352), Victoria and Albert Museum, London (261.64), and Musée du Petit Palais, Paris (o.dut.1126). These candlesticks exhibit bearded-mask consoles similar, but not identical to those on the Lehman saltcellar. A variant of this bearded-mask console is found on the saltcellar in the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (573), and on a basin in the Metropolitan Museum (17.190.1741). This piece presents more detailed angel heads than the ones on the Lehman saltcellar. Similar angel heads to the basin appear on a circular dish at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (4405-1857), and on a ewer in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (oa 10 589). This list is not exhaustive.
3. Compare with the crown and/or fleurs-de-lis on a cup in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1942.9.351), a cup in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (8715- 63), on a ewer (biberon) in a private collection (Écouen 1997 – 98, p. 88, no. 14), and on a fragment at the Musée de Parthenay, Deux-Sevres (Crépin-Leblond 1996).
4. Cleveland Museum of Art (1952.278). For its attribution, see Sturman and Barbour 1996, pp. 93 – 94, and analytical results on p. 89, no. 29. See also Barbour and Sturman 1996, p. 145.
5. Cleveland Museum of Art (1951.113). For its attribution, see Sturman and Barbour 1996, pp. 93 – 94, and analytical results on p. 89, no. 28. See also Barbour and Sturman 1996, p. 145.
6. Sturman and Barbour 1996, pp. 93 – 94. A saltcellar formerly in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1986.6), and later deaccessioned, belongs to the same group. See Sturman and Barbour 1996, pp. 93 – 94, and analytical results on p. 89, no. 27.
7. Elemental analysis was performed in January 2012 by Mark T. Wypyski, research scientist, Department of Scientific Research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, using energy and wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in the scanning electron microscope. The following table presents the results of the oxide concentrations as weight percent for a sample of the white clay and the colorless glaze taken from the foot.
Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 SO3 K2O CaO TiO2 MnO Fe2O2
clay 0.6 0.2 29.3 64.5 0.4 2.2 0.3 1.0 nd 1.5
Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 P2O5 SO3 Cl K2O CaO TiO2
glaze 7.5 0.46 1.9 49.8 0.10 0.62 0.24 1.8 7.8 0.13
MnO Fe2O2 CuO ZnO As2O3 SnO2 Sb2O3 BaO PbO
glaze 0.08 0.50 0.02 0.38 0.12 0.33 0.56 0.05 28.0
8. On the technique of Saint-Porchaire ceramics, see Wilson 1993, pp. 242 – 43; Sturman and Barbour 1996; Perrin, Isabelle. “A la maniere de . . . .” In Ecouen 1997 –98, pp. 29 –41. Parthenay and other cities 2004 – 05, p. 51; Velde, Bruce, and Anne Bouquillon. “Les ceramiques de Saint-Porchaire au XVIe siecle.” Techne, 2004, no. 20, pp. 61 – 62.
9. Parthenay and other cities 2004 – 5, pp. 53 – 58, with color ills.; Velde and Bouquillon 2004, pp. 65 – 67. The Lehman piece is radically different from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century copies of Saint-Porchaire ceramics produced at Minton in Great Britain and in France by Jean-Charles Avisseau of Tours, and several ceramists in Parthenay. On the latter, see Louis, Nathalie, and Christian Gendron. “La faience de Parthenay au XIXe siecle.” In Parthenay and other cities 2004 –5, pp. 95 –97.
10. Thermoluminescence (TL) analyses could provide an approximate date for the saltcellar. (On TL analyses for Palissy ware, see Amico 1996, pp. 241 – 42.) Further analysis of Saint-Porchaire glazes could contribute to the authentication of the Lehman piece. Moreover, a comparison between the size of cast decorative elements on the Lehman salt and other Saint-Porchaire pieces (for example, the standing nude boys wearing necklaces or the bearded-mask consoles) would determine if these elements derive from the same or different molds. Finally, additional research and analyses on non-Palissy and non – Saint-Porchaire French sixteenth-century ceramics, notably those said to come from Avon or Fontainebleau, would provide a better understanding of ceramic production in sixteenth-century France to which the Lehman saltcellar might belong.

Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, Great Tew, Oxfordshire; Boulton sale, Christie's, London, 15 December 1911, lot 94, ill.; Hubert George de Burgh Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde, probably Portumna Castle, County Galway; his great-nephew Henry George Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood; his wife, H.R.H. Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, Princess Royal; sale, Christie's London June 29, 1951, lot 177 (to [Partridge]); [Frank Partridge & Sons, London]. Acquired by Robert Lehman through Frank Partridge & Sons in November 1954.