Cellini Salt Cellar | |
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Italian: Saliera | |
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Artist | Benvenuto Cellini |
Year | 1543 |
Type | Partly enameled gold sculpture |
Dimensions | 26 cm × 33.5 cm (10 in × 13.2 in) |
Location | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
The Cellini Salt Cellar (in Vienna called the Saliera, Italian for salt cellar) is a part-enamelled gold table sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini (c.1500-1571). It was completed in 1543 for Francis I of France (r.1515-1547), from silver plate models that had been prepared many years earlier for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este (c.1479-1520).
Functioning as more than just an expensive condiment holder, the cellar aimed to catapult conversation among intellectuals on the underlying meanings of the work.[1] During the Renaissance, the Saliera was notable for its Mannerism.[2] The main draw is the work's style and form, which Cellini discusses in his treatise, I trattati dell'oreficieria e della Scultura (Treatises on Goldsmithing and Sculpture) and in his autobiography.[3][4][5] The work is the only extant gold sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini and is most famous of extant gold sculpture work to survive from the Renaissance. Ultimately, acting as a paradigm for 'renaissance gold smithery,' the sculptor showcased the multifaceted meanings of small objects of the era.[6]
Famously stolen in 2003, the salt cellar was recovered in 2006 and the thief was imprisoned.