Pair of Hanau Renaissance Revival Silver Figural Salts

An elaborate pair of Continental silver figural open salts of Renaissance inspiration, each of four-sided architectural form with a circular well, richly cast and chased with classical figures, scrolling foliage and armorial shields, raised on four lion-paw feet. The two salts appear to display differing coats of arms, possibly representing two families and suggesting a marriage, alliance, or paired heraldic commission. The form and decorative vocabulary closely relate to Italian Renaissance salts of the early sixteenth century, including an unmarked silver-gilt example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, catalogued as Italian, circa 1530, with a comparable architectural body, lion feet and continuous classical figural frieze.

The bowls bear groups of heavily worn pictorial and pseudo-hallmarks. Their character and the accomplished Renaissance Revival workmanship are consistent with the historicizing silver industry of Hanau, Germany, where firms including B. Neresheimer & Söhne became internationally known for finely executed reproductions of Renaissance silver. An attribution to Neresheimer is possible but cannot be confirmed from the surviving marks alone.