View source for Salt cellar

{{Short description|Container for salt}}
{{Redirect-synonym|Salt-box|[[Saltbox house]]}}

[[Image:Glass salt cellar 1720.jpg|thumb|An English glass salt cellar, circa 1720]]A '''salt cellar''' (also called a '''salt''', '''salt-box''') is an article of [[tableware]] for holding and dispensing [[Salt#Edible salt|salt]]. In British English, the term can be used for what in North American English are called [[Salt and pepper shakers|salt shakers]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/salt-cellar|title=Salt cellar definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary|website=www.collinsdictionary.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/salt-cellar|title=salt cellar|website=dictionary.cambridge.org}}</ref> Salt cellars can be either lidded or open, and are found in a wide range of sizes, from large shared vessels to small individual dishes. Styles range from simple to ornate or whimsical, using materials including glass and ceramic, metals, ivory and wood, and plastic.

Use of salt cellars is documented as early as [[ancient Rome]]. They continued to be used through the first half of the 20th century; however, usage began to decline with the introduction of free-flowing salt in 1911, and they have been almost entirely replaced by salt shakers.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Salt cellars were an early [[Collectable|collectible]] as pieces of silver, pewter, glass, etc. Soon after their role at the table was replaced by the shaker, salt cellars became a popular collectible in their own right.

==Etymology==
[[Image:Salt cellar Athens Louvre ED524.jpg|thumb|Black-glaze salt cellar. Terracotta, 5th century BC, Athens.]]
The word salt cellar is attested in English from the 15th century. It combines the English word ''salt'' with the [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] word {{Lang|xno|saler}} (from Latin {{Lang|la|sāl}}), which already by itself meant "salt container".<ref name=EtymSaltcellar/>

Salt cellars are known, in various forms, by assorted names including open salt, salt dip, standing salt, master salt, and salt dish. A master salt is the large receptacle from which the smaller, distributed, salt dishes are filled; according to fashion or custom it was lidded, or open, or covered with a cloth. A standing salt is a master salt, so-named because it remained in place as opposed to being passed.<ref name=Watney/> A trencher salt is a small salt cellar located next to the [[Trencher (tableware)|trencher]] (i.e., place setting).<ref name=Glanville/> Open salt and salt dip refer to salt dishes that are uncovered.

The term salt cellar is also used generally to describe any container for table salt, thus encompassing salt shakers and [[salt pig]]s.

==History==
[[File:Salt Cellar.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cellini]]'s [[Cellini Salt Cellar|Salt Cellar]], made for [[Francis I of France]], 1540–1543. Gold, partly enameled, with an ebony base. Depicts Earth and Sea personified.]]
Greek artifacts from the [[Classical Greece|classical period]] in the shape of small bowls are often called salt cellars. Their function remains uncertain, though they may have been used for condiments including salt.<ref name=Grk/>  The Romans had the ''salinum'', a receptacle typically of silver and regarded as essential in every household. The ''salinum'' had ceremonial importance as the container of the (salt) offering made during the meal, but it was also used to dispense salt to diners.<ref name=brill/>

During the [[Middle Ages]], elaborate master salt cellars evolved. Placed at the head table, this large receptacle was a sign of status and prosperity, prominently displayed. It was usually made of silver and often decorated in motifs of the sea. In addition to the master salt, smaller, simpler salt cellars were distributed for diners to share; these could take forms as simple as slices of stale bread.<ref name=Glanville/><ref name=Scully/> The [[social status]] of guests could be measured by their positions relative to the master's large salt cellar: high-ranking guests sat ''above the salt'' while those of lesser importance sat ''below the salt''.<ref name=Etym/>

[[File:Formal Place Setting 12 Course Dinner.jpg|thumb|Formal place setting for a 12 course dinner; individual salt cellar at top of place setting]]
Large, ornate master salts continued to be made through the [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] periods, becoming more ceremonial. In England, the ornamental master salt came to be called a standing salt, because it was not passed but remained in place. By 1588, reference is documented in England to the "trencher salt"; by the early 18th century, these had mostly supplanted large salts.<ref name=Yaxley/><ref name=Lawrence/> Tiny [[salt spoon]]s appear in the 17th century, and in increasing numbers as the use of trencher salts increased.<ref name=Wees/>

The advent of the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the late 18th to early 19th centuries rendered both salt and salt cellars commonplace.<ref name=Laszlo/> From about 1825 [[pressed glass]] manufacture became an industry and thrived; because they were easy to mold, salt cellars were among the earliest items mass-produced by this method.<ref name=Notley/> Similarly, the development of [[Sheffield plate]] (18th century), then [[electroplating]] (19th century), led to mass production of affordable silver-plated wares, including salt cellars.

Salt shakers began to appear in the [[Victorian era]],<ref name=Warmans/> and patents show attempts to deal with the problem of salt clumping, but they remained the exception rather than the norm. It was not until after 1911, when anti-caking agents began to be added to table salt, that salt shakers gained favor and open salts began to fall into disuse.<ref name=AntqTrad/><ref name=cooksinfo/>

==Collectibility==
[[File:DAR glass - IMG 8708.JPG|thumb|left|Open salt dish, pressed glass; [[Boston and Sandwich Glass Company]], 1830–1835]]
Silver, glass, china, pewter, stoneware, and other media used in the creation of tableware are collectible and have most likely been collected for centuries. By extension, salt cellars first became collectible as pieces of silver,<ref name=Sheffield/> glass,<ref name=CountryLife/> etc. Whether because of their commonness (and hence affordability), or the wide variety of them, or because of their slide into anachronism and quaintness,<ref name=Proudlove/> salt cellars themselves became collectible at latest by the 1930s.<ref name=Ormsbee/>
[[File:Pair of George IV Irish silver Chinoiserie salt cellars, by William Nowlan, Dublin, 1825.jpg|thumbnail|A pair of George IV Irish silver Chinoiserie salt cellars, by William Nowlan, Dublin, 1825]]
Although antique salt cellars are not difficult to find and can be very affordable, modern manufacturers and artisans continue to make salt cellars. Reproductions are common, as are new designs that reflect current tastes.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
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The [[:pl:Muzeum %C5%BBup Krakowskich Wieliczka|Cracow Saltworks Museum]] in [[Wieliczka]], Poland, has a large collection of salt cellars. It contains over 1000 objects made of: porcelain, gold, silver, glass, wood, bone, quartz and mother-of-pearl. Those artifacts are on display in the Saltworks Castle ({{Lang|pl|Zamek Żupny}} in [[Polish language|Polish]]).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://muzeum.wieliczka.pl/en/collections/salt-cellars | title=Cracow Saltworks Museum in Wieliczka }}</ref>
[[File:Solniczka gotycka, D. Kołakowski.jpg|thumb|The gothic salt cellar from around 1500 on exhibition in Saltworks Castle (the oldest object in collection)]]

==Salt pig==
[[File:Sprague Salt pig Elwood 22-3-2016.jpg|thumb|An example of a salt pig]]
A '''salt pig''' is a container used to hold [[Salt#Edible salt|salt]], particularly in a kitchen, to make it easily accessible to pinch or spoon measure into dishes.{{Explain|date=June 2025|reason=What's the difference from a salt cellar? Is a salt pig a kind of salt cellar?}} They are available in many materials, but are generally [[ceramic]], [[porcelain]], [[earthenware]] or [[clay]]. The earthenware construction of a salt pig can help keep the salt from clumping in [[humid]] kitchens. In the blog ''Mundane Essays'', writer Muness Alrubaiehis researched the origin of the term "salt pig", finding the use of "pig" in Scots and northern English [[dialect]] to mean an earthenware vessel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cooksinfo.com/kitchenware/salt-pigs|title=CooksInfo|website=CooksInfo}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=December 2024}}

==See also==
{{portal|Food}}
* [[Nef (metalwork)|Nef]]
* [[Salt spoon]]
* [[Salt cellar (origami)#Other uses|Salt cellar (origami)]]

==References==
{{reflist|
refs=
<ref name=EtymSaltcellar>{{cite web|title=Salt-cellar |website=Online Etymology Dictionary|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=salt-cellar&allowed_in_frame=0|first=Douglas |last=Harper|accessdate=31 January 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=Watney>{{cite book|last=Watney|first=Sir John|title=Some Account of the Hospital St. Thomas of Acon, in the Cheap, London, etc.|year=1892|publisher=Blades, East & Blades|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s04MAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA204|page=204}}</ref>
<ref name=Glanville>{{cite book|last=Glanville|first=Philippa|authorlink = Philippa Glanville|title=Silver in England|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0415382157|pages=43–44; 55–56}}</ref>
<ref name=Grk>{{cite book|last1=Connor|first1=Peter|title=A Catalogue of Greek Vases in the Collection of the University of Melbourne|year=2000|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1876832070|first2=Heather |last2=Jackson |page=188}}</ref>
<ref name=brill>{{cite web |last=Gutsfeld |first=Andreas (Münster) |title=Salinum |work=Brill's New Pauly |editor1=Hubert Cancik |editor2=Helmuth Schneider |year=2006 |accessdate=30 October 2012 |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/salinum-e1028140}}</ref>
<ref name=Scully>{{cite book|last=Scully|first=Terence|title=The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages|year=1995|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0851154305|page=171}}</ref>
<ref name=Etym>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=Salt|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=salt&allowed_in_frame=0|first=Douglas |last=Harper|accessdate=29 October 2012}}</ref>
<ref name=Yaxley>{{cite book|last=Yaxley|first=David|title=A Researcher's Glossary of Words Found in Historical Documents in East Anglia|year=2003|publisher=Larks Press|isbn=1904006132}}</ref>
<ref name=Lawrence>{{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=Robert Means|title=The Magic of the Horseshoe|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924029898172|year=1898|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|chapter=The Folklore of Common Salt}}</ref>
<ref name=Wees>{{cite book|last=Wees|first=Beth Carver|title=English, Irish, & Scottish silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute|year=1997|publisher=Hudson Hills Press|location=New York|isbn=1555951171|edition=1|page=254}}</ref>
<ref name=Laszlo>{{cite book|last=Laszlo|first=Pierre|title=Salt: Grain of Life|year=2002|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=0231121989|pages=[https://archive.org/details/saltgrainoflife00laszrich/page/152 152–153]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/saltgrainoflife00laszrich/page/152}}</ref>
<ref name=Notley>{{cite book|last=Notley|first=Raymond|title=Pressed Flint Glass|year=1997|publisher=Shire Publications Ltd|location=UK|isbn=0852637829|page=5}}</ref>
<ref name=Warmans>{{cite book|editor-last=Schroy|editor-first=Ellen T.|title=Warman's Americana & collectibles: identification and price guide|year=2005|publisher=Krause|location=Iola, Wis.|isbn=087349685X|edition=11th|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780873496858/page/418 418]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780873496858/page/418}}</ref>
<ref name=AntqTrad>{{cite book|last=Moran|first=Mark F.|title=Antique Trader salt and pepper shaker price guide|year=2008|publisher=Krause Publications Inc|location=Iola, WI|isbn=9780896896369|page=6}}</ref>
<ref name=cooksinfo>{{cite web |title=Salt Cellar |website=CooksInfo.com |date=9 December 2010 |url=http://www.cooksinfo.com/salt-cellar |accessdate=28 October 2012}}</ref>
<ref name=Sheffield>{{cite book|last=Bradbury|first=Frederick|title=History of Old Sheffield Plate|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofoldshef00brad|year=1912|publisher=Macmillan and Co|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofoldshef00brad/page/309 309]}}</ref>
<ref name=CountryLife>{{cite journal|last=Dyer|first=Walter A.|title=Old Glassware|journal=Country Life in America|date=December 1906|volume=XI|pages=165–167}}</ref>
<ref name=Proudlove>{{cite web|last=Proudlove|first=Christopher|title=Worth their salt|url=http://writeantiques.com/worth-their-salt/|website=WriteAntiques|accessdate=3 November 2012}}</ref>
<ref name=Ormsbee>{{cite journal|last=Ormsbee|first=Thomas Hamilton|title=Marked and Lacy Sandwich Salt Dishes|journal=American Collector|date=June 1936|url=http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/marked-and-lacy-sandwich-salt-dishes/|accessdate=3 November 2012}}</ref>
}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Salt cellars}}
{{EB1911 Poster|Salt-cellar}}
*[http://www.larsdatter.com/saltcellars.htm Medieval and Renaissance Saltcellars]
*[http://www.opensalts.us/ Open Salt Collectors website]
*[https://muzeum.wieliczka.pl/en/saltcellars Cracow Saltworks Museum]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salt Cellar}}
[[Category:Serving vessels]]
[[Category:Edible salt]]