The model for this salt was first executed by Sprimont in silver hallmarked 1742/43, soon after he arrived in England from Paris, and forms part of the ‘Marine Service’ created for Frederick Prince of Wales in the early 1740s and preserved in the Royal Collection.[1]
Silver-gilt crayfish salts by Nicholas Sprimont, 1742-43
Royal Collection
Little is known of Sprimont’s time in Paris but it is clear that he must have worked in the circle of the great French silversmith Thomas Germain (1673-1748) whose work was inspired by the pioneer of the Rococo, Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695-1750). A pair of lidded tureens surmounted by a similar crayfish by Thomas Germain of c. 1744-50 are in the J. Paul Getty Museum.[2] Presumably, these crayfish were cast from the hard carapace of an actual specimen of the freshwater crustacean which would then have been plentiful on the banks of the Seine and the Thames.
The superb glassy white paste of the Triangle Period was a perfect vehicle for Sprimont’s introduction of this new French taste to the most fashionable circles in London.
[1] RCIN 51393. Shawe-Taylor 2014, p. 452 no. 315 (entry by Kathryn Jones)
[2] Bremer-David 2014, pp. 108-111, figs. 65a & b
Condition:
One leg missing, losses to antennae. One 4 mm chip and further tiny chips to the shell. Three larger chips on the underside which are possibly where it adhered to the kiln. Some tips of the shell are rather ‘dry’ due to misfiring.
No restoration
Provenance:
R.F. Butler Collection (according to label)
Purchased Albert Amor Ltd., 2nd July 1999
References:
Shawe-Taylor 2014
Desmond Shawe-Taylor, ed. Exhibition, The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760, (Royal Collection Trust, 2014)
Bremer-David 2011
Charissa Bremer-David, (Ed.). Paris: Life & Luxury in 18th C: Life & Luxury in the Eighteenth Century, (Getty Publications, 2011)
SOLD