Set of Four Salts and Spoons

1739/40

Salt was a highly valued commodity in the eighteenth century. These silver receptacles, probably cast from real abalone shells, were appropriate containers for a product that also came from the sea. The mermaids and other marine creatures that support the salts, with their accompanying spoons, continue the fanciful maritime theme.

Medium	silver
Object Number	1955.390
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Paul de Lamerie, Set of Four Salts and Spoons, 1739/40, silver. Clark Art Institute, 1955.390

Select Bibliography

Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute. Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute Presents an Exhibition of Silver of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute, 1951. Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute. Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute Presents an Exhibition of Silver by Paul de Lamerie. Exhibition catalogue. Williamastown, MA: Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute, 1953. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Twenty-eight: Old Silver Dining Accessories. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1965. Carver, Beth S., and Eileen M. Casey. Georgian Grace: English Silver in the Age of Elegance. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1977. Lovett, Jennifer Gordon. A Glimpse of Rococo France: The Amorous Proposal by François Le Moyne. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1987. Hare, Susan, ed. Paul de Lamerie: At the Sign of the Golden Ball. Exhibition catalogue. London: Goldsmiths' Hall, 1990. Grimwade, Arthur G. Rococo Silver, 1727-1765. London: Faber and Faber. 1974. Hernmarck, Carl. The Art of the European Silversmith, 14301830. 2 vols. London and New York: Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977. Carver, Beth S., and Eileen M. Casey. Silver by Paul de Lamerie at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1978. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.. Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England. Exh.cat. ed. by Michael Snodin.. 1984.. Philippa Glanville.. Silver in England.. London: Unwin Hyman; New York: Holmes and Meier.. 1987.. Wees, Beth Carver. "English Silver in an American Museum: The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute." Silver Society Journal 4 (Autumn 1993):115–23. Sara Rossi.. "English Silver Salts." Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide 47 (March 1994):28,30-31.. 1994.. Wees, Beth Carver. English, Irish, and Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1997. Wees, Beth Carver. "Silver in the Clark Art Institute." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 536–45.