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Source Description
Salt cellars are vessels for serving salt, an expensive spice during this period, as part of a formal dinner setting. In the depression for the salt is an idealized image of Deianira, Hercules's wife, with the inscription reading, "I am the beautiful Deianira." A parallel image of Hercules is on the bottom. On the sides are painted scenes from his life. Visible here are representations of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion, struggling with Achelous (a suitor for Deianira) in the shape of a bull, and killing a creature that while identified as Cerberus, the three-headed dog from Hades, looks like the Lernean hydra that was described as having many heads, each on a long neck.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
37949
label
Salt Cellar with the Life of Hercules
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
37949
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Salt Cellar with the Life of Hercules
description
Salt cellars are vessels for serving salt, an expensive spice during this period, as part of a formal dinner setting. In the depression for the salt is an idealized image of Deianira, Hercules's wife, with the inscription reading, "I am the beautiful Deianira." A parallel image of Hercules is on the bottom. On the sides are painted scenes from his life. Visible here are representations of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion, struggling with Achelous (a suitor for Deianira) in the shape of a bull, and killing a creature that while identified as Cerberus, the three-headed dog from Hades, looks like the Lernean hydra that was described as having many heads, each on a long neck.
provenance
Didier-Petit Collection Sale (?), Paris, March 15, 1843, and following days, lot 122 [if this salt is indeed the piece in this sale it had a companion piece, lot 121, with the heads of Paris and Tibea in the cavities (ie., Pyramus and Thisbe)]; Seligmann Bros., Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown] by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1535 or later (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Enamels
salt cellars
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
8
height
10.1
dimensionsRaw
H: 3 1/8 x Diam: 4 in. (8 x 10.1 cm)
Source extras
med
painted enamel on copper
creator_ids
5948
4231
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
8cd549daec841301