{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1510026"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1510026/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MT0898/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MT0898/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020MT0898","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MT0899","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FB2810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FB2775","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FB2789","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FB2769","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1781","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1510026/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1510026","accessionNumber":"876A-1882","objectType":"Salt cellar","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"No signature is visible on this pair of hexagonal Limoges enamel salts, but they were most likely made in the workshop of Pierre Reymond, whose output was prolific over a period of more than fifty years. After 1540, he became a master of grisaille enamelling (the building up areas of white enamel on a dark base layer to achieve nuanced shading in grey tones). These salts of about 1560 are in a style similar to other salts painted with scenes from the story of Hercules attributed to Pierre Reymond and they use many of the same design sources. \r\n\r\nThe owners of Limoges painted enamel vessels generally reserved these small luxuries for display rather than using them for the particular functional purpose their named shapes would imply. The story of Hercules was a fashionable subject in mid-sixteenth century art so while these salts might have been specially commissioned, it is more probable that enamellers produced numbers of Hercules-themed items to sell directly from stock. Hercules, in classical mythology said to have been fathered by the god Jupiter, was the hero famous for successfully carrying out a series of 'labours' or feats which demonstrated his strength and courage.\n","physicalDescription":"Pair of hexagonal enamelled copper salts composed of eight individual plaques mounted in a later gilded engraved bronze mount. Each side plaque is painted in grisaille, pinkish flesh tones and gilding with six scenes from the story of Hercules, while concave wells in the top and bottom of each salt are painted with male and female profile busts.\r\n\r\nThe top well of 876-1882 bears a classical female bust in profile facing left. Her nose is straight and features emphasised with black hatching. Her plaited hair is set with a tiara and drapery. The well underneath is painted with a classical male bust facing left. His helmet is crowned with a lion mask. The six side plaques are painted with the following scenes:\r\n- The birth of Hercules (held by his mother, Alcmena) and his twin Iphicles (held by a nursemaid)\r\n- The taming of Cerberus, the dog which guarded the entrance to Hades\r\n- Hercules and the Cretan bull\r\n- Hercules wrestling with the giant Antaeus\r\n- Hercules with the Pillars\r\n- Hercules rescuing Deianeira from the Centaur Eurytion\r\n\r\nThe top well of 876A-1882 depicts a male bust in profile facing right. He has curly hair and wears a flat 16th-century style cap forward at a jaunty angle covering his left eye. The well underneath is painted with a female bust facing left. Her hair is plaited and held in a net. The six side plaques show the following:\r\n- Nessus slain by Hercules' arrow\r\n- Hercules supporting the world in place of Atlas, and in the background, killing the dragon Ladon, guardian of the golden apples in the  \r\n  garden of the Hesperides\r\n- Hercules slaying the Nemean Lion\r\n- Hercules overcoming the Lernaean hydra \r\n- Hercules wielding his club at the fire-breathing giant Cacus\t\r\n- Hercules on his funeral pyre, with his son Hyllus approaching with faggots for the fire\r\n\r\nHercules was a popular figure in classical art and again in neo-classical art of the Renaissance and later periods. The mythological hero, son of the god Jupiter and a human mother, Alcmena, personified courage and physical strength as demonstrated in the performance of many feats. He was seen in ancient Greece as the protector of people and cities. His labours, however, were imposed on him by Eurystheus, King of Tiryns by order of the Delphic Oracle as punishment for killing his children in a fit of madness. After his death, he took his place as one of the twelve gods of Olympus.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"No signature is visible but the salts are likely to have been produced by the workshop of Pierre Reymond. The painting style is similar to other grisaille salts with scenes from the story of Hercules attributed to Pierre Reymond and they use many of the same design sources."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"}],"techniques":[{"text":"enamelled","id":"AAT53773"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted in enamels on copper, mounted in gilded bronze","categories":[{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2020MT0898","2020MT0899","2011FB2810","2011FB2775","2011FB2789","2011FB2769","2017KE1781"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES335155"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"salt","id":"AAT43062"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Limoges","id":"x32604"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1560","earliest":"1555-01-01","latest":"1564-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"876-1882","id":"O1510024"},"association":"Pair"}],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John Jones","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"25/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-25","latest":"2015-08-25"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"25/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-25","latest":"2015-08-25"},"part":"between flat sides","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"9.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"25/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-25","latest":"2015-08-25"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"The salts both measure the same in all dimensions.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"* ERCVLES *, gilded","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On all four sides of 876-1882. The gilding is very worn and nearly lost. The birth scene is without inscription. The scene in which Hercules liberates Deianeira from Nessus is inscribed * ERCVLES */ ET DEANI / * RA *."},{"content":"* ERCVLES *, gilded","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On the three plaques showing Nessus, Hercules supporting the world, and Hercules on the pyre. On the sides showing the Nemean lion and Cacus it is  *HERCVLES * instead. The side with the Hydra is inscribed * LIDRAN *."}],"objectHistory":"Limoges, central France, was famous for the production of champlevé enamels from the late 12th century until the town was destroyed by the Black Prince in 1370. The enamel industry began to revive about a century later but the technique of painted enamels produced from 1460s/70s was quite different from the earlier medieval work. The copper, probably from Spanish mines, was hammered to thin sheets then coated with enamel (a mix of powdered glass known as flux coloured with metal oxides) front and back. The front ground colour for grisaille work appears black but is usually a deep mulberry. The design was outlined on the dark ground colour, then the image built up with a brush and spatula. Grisaille was created by varying the thickness of the white enamel to allow the dark enamel beneath to show through to a greater or lesser extent. The piece might be fired several times, with gilding which needed the lowest temperature, done last. Apart from artistic skill, there was immense technical skill, perfected through careful experimentation, in producing the correct colour and  shade required and a smooth correct consistency of enamel powder. The result, after much time and  labour, had to be as free of bubbles, defects, specks of dirt and cracks as possible. Limoges painted enamels were therefore regarded as luxury items.\r\n\r\nSalts such as this might have been specially commissioned but enamellers would also have produced extra items to sell from stock. This might well have been the case here as Hercules was a fashionable subject in mid-sixteenth century art and multi-faceted vessels were well-suited to illustrating a series of stories concerning him. The Farnese Hercules, an antique sculpture by Glycon was discovered in 1540 and Limoges enamellers would have known well the six reliefs of the Labours of Hercules carved (1533-37) on the rood screen of Limoges cathedral. Limoges painted enamel vessels were chiefly regarded by their owners as 'objects de vertu' and were more likely displayed than utilised for their ostensible purpose.\r\n\r\nPierre Reymond (b.1513, d. ca.1584) ran probably the most prolific of the Limoges enamelling workshops. It is probable that his workshop produced these salts though other workshops also used Hercules as subject matter on salts. Reymond must have begun to decorate plaques with polychrome enamels in his teens as his earliest extant work dated 1533 was already accomplished. After 1540, he began to decorate enamels, particularly vessels, in grisaille or shades of grey achieved by adding varying numbers of layers of white. Late in his career, Reymond returned to polychrome work again.","historicalContext":"Display rather than use as table salts.","briefDescription":"Hexagonal, painted in enamels on copper with scenes from the Story of Hercules; Limoges, France, ca.1560.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Catalogue of the Jones Collection, II, Ceramics, ormolu, goldsmiths' work, enamels, sculpture, tapestry, books, and prints. Victoria and Albert Museum, 1924."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Francoise Barbe, 'Hercule et les douze travaux', in La Rencontre des Heros, Limoges, Musee Municipal de l'Eveche, 2002."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Sophie Baratte, Les Emaux peints de Limoges, Paris, Musee du Louvre, 2000"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Philippe Verdier, 'Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance', Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1967"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Suzanne Higgott, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Glass and Limoges Painted Enamels, 2011"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Handbook of the Jones Collection, 1883"}],"production":"Hexagonal salts from Limoges are usually made entirely of enamelled copper and are unmounted. The engraved gilded bronze mount has almost certainly been made and attached in the nineteenth century.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Hercules","id":"N179"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["876A-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"876","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-14","recordCreationDate":"2019-09-09","availableToBook":true}}