Salt Collection
 One of Four Gilt Salts 1811-13 The principal pieces
of silver are divided into three groups. Much of the Company's
main collection was commissioned, and some of it given to the
Company by its well-wishers. The charming smaller salt-cellars,
some of which have been acquired recently, are now of national
importance.
'Treasures at Salters' Hall' by Graham Hughes
This sumptuous book,
with its 150 specially photographed colour plates, makes a splendid
introduction to silver, one of the arts at which the English
have always excelled. Many of these cups, jugs and dishes reflect
a vivid detail of personal history. A form of national lottery
three centuries ago caused the Salters' Company to melt down
much of their plate, as did the Civil War half a century before.
At that time survival necessitated unusual diplomatic skills
like those of the grand Salter who had to dress as a woman in
order to penetrate the enemy lines. The book will fascinate
lovers of the City of London, with its old institutions and
its ever-new ideas.
 Standing Salt, Gilt,1589 Treasures at Salters'
Hall introduces this ancient guild, following the inspiring
development of its interest from salt as a preservative to its
place in the modern chemical industry.
There are now 103
City Livery Companies; most of them, including the Salters,
grew up in the early Middle Ages some seven centuries ago, and
now encourage their own crafts to which they owe their origins,
as well as helping all sorts of charities. The Salters once
supervised the supply of salt, without which much food would
have been inedible. Now, with their Salters' Institute of Industrial
Chemistry, the Salters are at the forefront of the chemical
industry, working in partnership with some of the giant companies
in this fast-changing scene, like AstraZeneca, Glaxo Wellcome
and Pfizer. This powerful conjunction of past history and future
vision finds its vivid expression in this beautiful book.
Foreword from 'Treasures at Salters' Hall'
The Salters' Company
has benefited from the heritage of generous gifts of Liverymen
and inspired commissions made by the Court over many generations.
After the 1941 bombing of the magnificent Hall which had been
completed in 1827, significantly two things survived, the spirit
of the Company and some of its treasures, including the plate,
which was secured in a basement strongroom. This book is an
attempt to illustrate both aspects of the life of the Company
at the start of the new Millennium.
 Sixteen Pepper Mills, 1900 Shortly after the
1939-45 war, despite being faced with the prospect of rebuilding
during a period of severe austerity, the Court made two important
purchases of Elizabethan standing salts. Such imaginative leadership
set the pattern for the policy which has evolved, that while
husbanding resources and increasing support to the Salters'
Institute and other charities, The Company should continue to
build upon the collection which is our inheritance. The new
Hall was completed and opened in 1976 and soon a number of 18th
and 19th century candelabra and candlesticks were added to this
collection.
The purchase at auction
of four salts made by Paul Storr in the form of tritons broke
new ground, and led to a growing realisation that the obvious
home for a national collection of domestic salts was Salters'
Hall, and may be viewed by arrangement by anyone with a special
interest.
The responsibility
for building upon the Salters' collection of treasures since
1976 has devolved upon the Hall Sub-Committee under my chairmanship.
I would like to pay tribute to three past members, Mr. Michael
Price, Sir John Wordie and Mr. David Hicks; to the Rt. Rev.
Frank Weston who has retired from the Sub-Committee, and to
the present members, Sir Michael Palmer (Vice-Chairman), Mr.
Tim Scriven, Mr. Dick Homan and Lord Lloyd of Berwick. It is
through the generosity of a Liveryman, Mr. Alistair Stirling,
that we are able to publish this book. We are grateful to the
descendants of Sir Henry Cassel for the inclusion of items from
his collection which were on loan to the Company.
Many years ago when
I became Master, I recalled that we had been formed as the Guild
of Corpus Christi and that a man much wiser than I had said
'Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruit of all
your crops; then your barns to be filled to overflowing and
your vats will brim over with new wine'. Nearly twenty years
later, we now see a Company whose charitable giving continues
to increase and whose treasure in all senses is brimming over.
Long may the Salters Company flourish.
Miles Park, Master 1981
Chairman, Hall Sub-Committee,
Salters' Hall, January 2000
This book is dedicated in the words of the traditional toast:
To the Salters' Company, with its Maids, Wives and Widows, coupled with the name of the Master.
Excerpt One from 'Treasures at Salters' Hall'
Standing salt, gilt, 1589
MAKER I.G. monogram
HEIGHT 30.5 cm
Standing Salt, Gilt,1589
Ceremonial salts
were respected symbols of high social rank in the later Middle
Ages and early Renaissance. Some were made in the form of a
fantastic animal, like the Monkey Salt c. 1500 at New College,
Oxford, or of an amazing creature like the giant at All Souls'
College, Oxford c. 1460. Elaborate geometric designs were also
popular, as in the cylindrical salt of 1562 given by Matthew
Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, of which the Salters were given a 1929 copy by victor
Martin, Master in 1946; or the salts of c. 1500 given to Christ's
College, Cambridge by their Foundress, shaped like a lobed hourglass.
The Vintners' Company
possess a rectangular salt of 1569, similar to the Salters'
of 1589, but with pictorial panels on each side, instead of
the Salters' patterned embossing. Queen Elizabeth's salt of
1572 in the Crown jewels in the tower of London is also comparable,
but again it has pictorial panels, and it is circular. These
last two masterpieces bear the maker's mark of a bird in a frame,
probably indicating the picturesque punning name Affabel Partridge,
who may have specialised in this type of ornament. A 1935 copy
of the Mostyn salt of 1586 in the Victoria and Albert Museum
was given to the Salters by Sir William Bird and Ernest Bird,
and is of rather similar shape to Queen Elizabeth's salt in
the tower, a pleasant if debased reminder. The Gibbon Salt Of
1576 at Goldsmiths' Hall is among the most sophisticated of
this architectural group, with detached fluted columns surrounding
the rock crystal centre.
Slowly, as knowledge
of diets and of health improved, the vital importance of salt
declined, and with it the prominence given to ceremonial salts
at the banqueting table. One of the latest of these great salts
is in the collection of the City of London Corporation at Mansion
House, a big circular scroll salt of 1735. The eminence of the
donors of these marvellous pieces, tells its own story: if you
wanted to show off, and if you wanted immortality, you gave
a big salt to an institution which you loved. Early books of
etiquette instruct the page to set the principal salt on the
right hand of the head of the house, with smaller salts going
before the less important guests. Great salts such as these
were expensive, and therefore never common; only a dozen and
a half of them now survive, and one of these is the Salters',
illustrated as the frontispiece.
Purchased in 1953,
this is one of the most important pieces in the Salters' collection.
The vase-shaped finial supports a warrior, perhaps Hercules
with his club, to remind guests at the high table of the gallantry
of their host. The masks and fruit chased and embossed all over
the surface, are typical of late Elizabethan taste, when the
more decoration you could cram on, the richer you were and the
more you would be admired. The jewelled dresses worn by the
virgin Queen herself, painted by the goldsmith Nicholas Hilliard,
set a standard of sophisticated flamboyance which courtiers
might neglect at their peril. The same language appears in buildings
of the period, like the deeply carved coloured wood screen in
the Middle Temple, London, where Queen Elizabeth probably saw
the first performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 1602.
Big old salts are redolent of poetic thoughts and associations
of ideas like this. Salters are lucky and clever to possess
one of the best groups of these very English objects, for visitors
to enjoy when they visit Salters' Hall.
Excerpt Two from 'Treasures at Salters' Hall'
Set of four, gilt, 1811-13
MAKER Paul Storrfor Rundell, Bridge and
Rundell Christopher Bowen
HEIGHT 11 cm
 Set of Four Gilt Salts 1811-13 Each formed as a triton towing a seashell
through swirling waves. The magnificent set was probably designed
and modelled by William Theed RA, who Joined Rundell, Bridge
and Rundell after leaving the employ of Wedgwood in 1803. His
initial career was as a painter until around 1791 when he moved
to Rome, spending the next four years training as a sculptor
there. His bronze 'Thetis returning from Vulcan with arms for
Achilles' in the British royal collection was exhibited in the
Royal Academy in 1812, and, with its shell and triton above
the waves, shows an affinity with the salts.
Excerpt Three from 'Treasures at Salters' Hall'
Sixteen pepper mills, 1900
 Sixteen Pepper Mills, 1900 MAKER Christopher Bowen HEIGHT 16 cm
Shaped as the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral,
which may be seen from some of the windows of Salters' Hall.
Inscribed 1394 - 1994, Salters' arms engraved. Four leading
young silversmiths were selected to submit ideas for this commission.
Christopher Bowen's design was selected, and on Election Day
1994, a mill was presented to each Liveryman and Freewoman.
Commissioned by the Company to celebrate their sixth centenary
for presentation to Liverymen.
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