SALT CELLARS AND MUSTARD POTS
=The salt cellars--The pattern books of Sheffield--The new style of
table salt cellar--The mustard pot--A bid for the Continental trade.=
There is nothing so ancient and so massive about the salt cellars that
Sheffield made as there is in the old styles beloved by the collector
of rare silver plate. There are no standing salts in Sheffield plate,
such as those treasured at the Universities, or brought out on state
occasions at the dinners of the great London Companies. There is
nothing in the eighteenth century in silver approaching the grandeur
affected by the standing salt and its place of honour at the tables
when those who sat above the vessel and those who sat below it were
of different status. The trencher salts of a later day were more
democratic; they were smaller and they answered the practical purpose
of serving salt to the diners. But they had nothing of the stateliness
of the great standing salt with its ritual as fixed as that of the
loving cup which circulated, although the salt was a permanent fixture.
Those who sat below the salt were either the Greek chorus or they
were "preposterous shadows lengthening in the noon-tide of one's
prosperity." They were poor relations, "a blot on your scutcheon, a
rent in your garment, a death's head at your banquet." Charles Lamb
touches on the late eighteenth century phase of the dependent below
the salt. "He casually looketh in about dinner-time--when the table
is full. He offereth to go away seeing you have company--but is
induced to stay. He filleth a chair, and your visitor's two children
are accommodated at a side-table.... He declareth against fish, the
turbot being small--yet suffereth himself to be importuned into a
slice, against his first resolution.... He is a puzzle to the servants,
who are fearful of being too obsequious, or not civil enough to him.
The guests think they have seen him before. He calleth you by your
Christian name, to imply that your other is the same as his own. He
is too familiar by half, yet you wish he had less diffidence. With
half the familiarity he might pass for a casual dependent; with more
boldness he would be in no danger of being taken for what he is. He
is too humble for a friend, yet taketh on him more state than befits
a client. He is a worse guest than a country tenant, inasmuch as he
bringeth up no rent. When the company breaks up, he proffereth to go
for a coach--and lets the servant go. He recollects your grandfather,
and will thrust in some mean and unimportant anecdote of the family.
He knew it when it was not quite so flourishing as 'he is blest in
seeing it now.' He is of opinion that the urn is the more elegant
shape; but after all, there was something more comfortable about the
old tea kettle--which you must remember."
[Illustration: DESIGNS OF SALT CELLARS.
From an old Pattern Book issued by eighteenth-century Sheffield platers
to Continental markets. The volume contains 86 full-page plates in
copper engraving, illustrating various Sheffield plated articles. Date
about 1784.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
What a picture, graphic and piquant, of the closing years of the
eighteenth century. Had the great standing salt survived how Elia would
have revelled in his sly whimsical manner in portraying the exactitude
with which it was fixed as a thermometer to register the correctitude
of degrees of social affinity with the host. But the scattered plebeian
trencher salts, as was the urn, which succeeded the copper kettle, were
of the days when Sheffield and the silversmiths ran neck and neck.
=The Pattern Books of Sheffield.=--Advertisement is often
considered to be of modern origin. In the twentieth century it is true
it has taken to itself attributes which might very well have been
eliminated. The press is the fourth estate, and its power for good or
evil is illimitable. It is obnoxious to find a page of advertisement
printed on the cheap edition of a novel. It is a stab in the vitals
to read an insidiously worded article carefully printed in an evening
paper and find it only an advertisement. There is a Plimsoll mark in
advertising, and modernity has not always agreed as to where this
should be placed.
There were advertisements in the journals of the days of Charles II. In
Anne's day in the _Spectator_ we find on June 2, 1712, advertisements
concerning a preparation for "polishing and setting Razors, Penknives,
and Lancets, not to be paralleled, being much more durable and smooth,
never growing rough by using, but setting Razors with greater Fineness
and Exactitude than any other sort possibly can. Price 1s. each. Sold
only by Mr. Allcrafts, a Toy Shop at the Blue-Coat Boy against the
Royal Exchange in Cornhill and Mr. Paishon, a Stationer at the Maypole
in the Strand."
Sheffield goes back to 1624, when the Cutlers Company was incorporated
by Act of Parliament. Cutlery and tools were the great features,
but later there grew up a special branch known as "steel toys."
Button-hooks, corkscrews, key rings, nut-crackers, swivels and spring
hooks, and many other articles. Here then was the foundation of
trade long established and trade customs long in operation. It is
not therefore surprising to find that when the great impulse came
with factories and mills arising on every hand for rolling plate and
manipulating it into shapes acceptable to the world of fashion, that
Sheffield rose to the occasion. Her catalogues, beautifully engraved
and costly to produce, were embellished with designs of examples she
was prepared to export to the Continent. From these Pattern Books
we get a very interesting sidelight into the intricacies of the
business side of the undertakings which were evidently on colossal
proportions.
[Illustration: DESIGNS OF SALT CELLARS.
From an old Pattern Book issued by eighteenth-century Sheffield platers
to Continental markets. Of the 86 copper engraved plates, many were
designs made by J. Parsons & Co. Date about 1784.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
In the examination of the designs each by each it will be observed that
as is usual in modern trade publications every variation is given of
designs differing from each other although in apparently unimportant
details to the public. But this peep behind the scenes shows how exact
were the traders in illustrating such differences in design.
The point arises as to whether the Sheffield platers themselves made
these slight variations in design, adding here a piece of chasing
and there a chain of festoons, each article having this slight
variation from its fellow, or whether they were actually following the
silversmiths' designs in silver plate where similar variations may have
been made. We do not know. It is a moot point. If we cannot find in
silver, and examples have not always been found to agree exactly with
Sheffield plate reproductions, all that we know Sheffield produced
we are on the horns of a dilemma. First, some of the silver designs
required to indicate originals that Sheffield must have copied are
missing and must have been destroyed, or, secondly, some of the designs
of Sheffield had no counterpart in silver; that is to say, they were
original designs made by the Sheffield silver platers as variations (as
the illustrations show) of silver models.
This is an interesting point, and it has never been quite cleared
up, as to whether all Sheffield plated work can be matched by having
examples of solid silver plate produced as prototypes from which such
models were taken. Until this is done systematically it is not quite
certain whether Sheffield did or did not invent certain additions
of her own in embellishing designs which originally came from the
silversmith. The presumption is that she did; broad general designs
as prototypes were used, but details in ornament and decoration and a
series of minor differences were made to suit the technique or to offer
variety to clients.
An examination of the specimens from the old copper-plate designs
(illustrated, p. 137) shows how slight some of the variations in
chasing were. No. 338 on the top row on left is similar to No. 340 in
same row which latter is minus the festoons. No. 339 has an upright
medallion and a central band of chased lozenge ornament. No. 337 has
the same design in bands top and bottom, the medallion is sideways and
there are added panels of ornament at side.
Another illustration (p. 141) shows similar minute variations which
were offered to the trade. No. 486 on the left at the top row is
practically the same as No. 489, on the second row beneath which has
floral chasing added, and the next example, No. 490, differs only
inasmuch as it has a broken curved top. The differences therefore are
only those found in trade catalogues.
[Illustration: DESIGNS OF MUSTARD POTS.
From an old Pattern Book issued by eighteenth-century Sheffield platers
to Continental markets, by J. Parsons & Co., about 1784. This series
indicates the minute differences of detail in ornament of exceptional
interest to collectors nowadays.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
=The New Style of the Table Salt Cellar.=--Apart from the days of
the great standing salt of the late seventeenth century, the potter
followed on at Rouen and at Lambeth with simulations in white ware
of these creations of the silversmith. In the days of Queen Anne and
in the reign of George II the trencher salt was of minor proportions
and simple in design. It had no feet and it did not attempt to be
ornamental in the same degree that is observable in later salts where
the decorative effect is beautiful and symmetrical and where they
followed in succession all the phases of contemporary ornament. They
had hoof feet, claw and ball feet, were perforated in their designs,
were oval or hexagonal in shape, adopting in turn the classic festoons
of the Adam period, and the godrooning of the tureen of the late George
III massive style. They had three feet and then four feet, till they
finally dropped the foot altogether. When Empire forms were in vogue
they are found with sphinxes or winged griffons and on tripod stands,
and in the decadence they sunk to trivial designs as inartistic as the
crude earthenware butter pan in the dairy.
It is interesting to the collector of old Sheffield plate to trace
his designs and compare them with the silver hall-marked specimens
throughout the period from 1770 till 1820. He will find that in the
main the Sheffield plated examples of the period about 1785 to 1795
offer examples in decorative style not surpassed by any others, and
he will also find that the silver plate of that particular period is
not quite so replete with similar designs as one would suppose, taking
it for granted that all the designs of the platers were taken from the
prototypes found in silver.
=The Mustard Pot.=--"What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?"
says Shakespeare in his _Taming of the Shrew_, which shows the use of
this condiment at the sixteenth century English table, though there is
no record of mustard pots having formed part of the plate. Swift gave
certain satiric directions to a servant how to snuff a candle, and he
added further injunctions, "Stick your candle in a bottle, a coffee-cup
or a mustard pot."
In collecting, the mustard pot bursts on the horizon about the year
1760. Fitted with blue glass liners, they ran in triumphant progress
with the sugar pails, and cream pails, through a period of thirty to
thirty-five years, offering the choicest specimens of cut and pierced
work, with festoons and with medallions in classic style, and decorated
with exquisite chasing.
[Illustrations: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED MUSTARD POTS.
1775. With bar piercing: Medallions and festoons. Circular base; dome
lid. Handle of form used on flagons.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)
1785. Oval shape. Handle with Prince of Wales's feathers as
thumb-piece. Medallion star pierced. Threaded rim.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)
1785. Round in shape on collette foot; scroll piercing. Circular lid
surmounted by knob.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)
1790. Vase shaped on collette foot. Bead edging and beaded handle. Star
piercing.
All these examples have blue glass liners.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
[Illustration: DESIGNS OF MUSTARD POTS.
From an old Pattern Book issued by eighteenth-century Sheffield platers
to Continental markets. Many are by J. Parsons & Co., about 1784. The
fine character of the cut and pierced ornament indicates the artistic
output of that period.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
Their shapes varied with varying fashions. The illustration (p. 145)
taken from an old Design Book by J. Parsons and Co. of Sheffield,
about 1784, shows the type then fashionable. All these are of oblong
form. The lids spring up with fine contour and are chased with various
patterns, all of them terminate in an urn pediment, following the
prevailing note in decoration. As was shown with salt cellars in regard
to these old pattern books the designs are only slight variations
from each other, differentiated from each other by numbers for trade
reasons. But the differences are trifling, as will be seen from the
illustration. The middle examples on the two rows illustrate this. The
same ostrich feathers, a simulation of the _fleur-de-lys_, and later in
Hepplewhite manner to be affiliated with the Prince of Wales's feathers
as a permanent feature in design. In both examples this is a feature as
a pierced medallion. The floral festoons are the same in both cases,
but the only variation is the chasing in the upper and lower bands. The
other examples show similar relationship.
During the period of classic design there was a drum-shaped upright
form as is shown in the illustration (p. 149) with handle and lid, by
the way, which go to an earlier period. The adjacent example, 1785 in
date, is oval, like the copper-plate pattern book examples illustrated,
but its character is finer. The pierced designs as in the 1775 example
are of a fine quality. The thumb piece at the handle, it may be noted,
goes back to seventeenth century days and is found in flagons.
Other drum forms are shown in the illustration (p. 151) and the same
slight variations appear in trade differentiations in this copper-plate
catalogue of examples ready for export. Some of these, it will be
noticed, have flat lids and one example has the dome-shaped lid of
the flagon of earlier days. The tall urn-form offers another variety
of shape. It is here shown in the engraved examples and it is further
exemplified in two fine examples in date 1785 and 1790, illustrated
(p. 149). In the left hand specimen the pierced work exhibits an
originality and beauty in its curved perforations. The other mustard
pot has pierced star ornament and delicate beaded decoration, on body
and handle. In regard to the handles of these urn mustard pots there
is a departure from exact classic countour. The illustration (p. 151)
shows the handles in fine curve, but severely classic. The practical
examples have lost this severity, the handles are more the handles of
the working silversmith than the designs of the drawing master. In
regard to Sheraton's design books there are similar differences. The
practical craftsman did not always live up to the ideal of the designer.
A page of mustard pots illustrated (p. 155) shows the diversity of
the styles, and collectors can compare their Sheffield plate not only
with marked examples of silver but with designs that were issued from
Sheffield in the series of Pattern Books which happily have not been
destroyed. A page of pepper castors illustrated (p. 155) shows similar
inventiveness in design and ornament.
[Illustration: GROUP OF OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED PEPPER CASTORS.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
[Illustration: GROUP OF OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED MUSTARD POTS.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
=A Bid for Continental Trade.=--The series of illustrations
reproduced throughout the volume show that Sheffield was organized
and fully equipped as an art industry, ready and competent to seize
foreign markets. To those who imagine that the Sheffield silver plating
process was something comparatively trivial, wholly imitative, and
more or less of little moment in reckoning the eighteenth century art
industries in England, this should come as a shock. We do not remember
that Worcester or Derby, Chelsea or Bow, our much vaunted porcelain
factories, ever had much relationship with the Continent in the way
of trade. Wedgwood did, and the other Staffordshire potters did,
because they were more organized than the porcelain factories. It is
interesting, therefore, to find that on the Continent a demand had
arisen for English metal work. The metalsmiths on the Continent were
by no means deficient in originality. For centuries in Italy and in
Holland, in Germany and in France, some of the finest workers in gold
and silver, in brass and iron, artists in jewels and in enamel, had won
a great renown. It is somewhat flattering to find that the foreigner
saw, what perhaps was less recognized in the country of its origin,
that the work of the Sheffield silver platers stood on a plane apart.
And their flattering attentions were not only confined to purchasing
replicas of fine English silver. Whether they bought it as being
useful from a trade point of view to copy English silver designs, as
a short cut to getting fine models, or whether they loved it for its
own sake as a cheap and as a beautiful reproduction of fine designs,
we cannot determine, but they did the Sheffield platers the honour
of copying their technique and there are some fine examples of their
work. In France, plated ware in the Sheffield manner was manufactured.
We illustrate a coffee pot of no mean design (p. 211) of French
workmanship, and it is stated that in Holland and in Russia similar
imitations of the Sheffield technique were made. Special marks were
compulsory for this plated ware in the country of its origin in order
to prevent its sale as solid silver plate. Two French marks illustrated
(p. 291) show the words _Doublé_ (copied) or _Plaqué_ (plated) together
with figures denoting the quantity of the silver.
V
CAKE BASKETS
DECANTER STANDS OR COASTERS
DISH RINGS
INKSTANDS AND TAPER HOLDERS