Silver-gilt set with enamelled bosses, Spain (Castile, possibly Madrid), 1600-30

Double salt cellar and caster, divides into three pieces. The top is a sprinkler for spices. Bottom two sections circular salt. Each divided into three panels with floral decoration. Enamelled bosses and each with three feet. The top section is domed and also in three panels. One panel is missing. Detachable sprinkler with a conical finial.

Dr W.L. Hildburgh Bequest

This piece is in the so-called Herrera style, derived from the decoration of the Escorial palace in Madrid for Philip II undertaken by the architect Juan de Herrera. Characterised by a blend of richness and austerity, the plain, but heavy gilt surfaces and architectural forms contrast with the rich colour of the enamel bosses. Such pieces were always highly prized, as shown by a still-life `portrait' by Juan Bautista de Espinosa, around 1585.
Walter Leo Hildburgh was one of the most dedicated and generous patrons in the history of the V&A. His name is not well-known outside the museum world, but his influence on the shaping of the collections was immense. Born in New York in 1876, he trained as a scientist. Initially his collecting interest was ethnography, but after 1914 he turned to the decorative arts. His tastes were eclectic, but he developed his closest links with the Departments of Metalwork and Sculpture. Encouraged by successive Keepers of Metalwork, he began to accumulate European silver, with the gaps in the existing collections in mind. He travelled widely on collecting expeditions, usually recording when and where he bought something, but not (frustratingly for posterity) from whom.
Hildburgh's abiding passion was the art of Spain and Portugal, and it is no coincidence that the Museum holds one of the finest collections of Hispanic silver in the world. He also fell into the charming habit of giving the Museum presents at Christmas and on his own birthday. In some ways he was a shadowy figure, living frugally in a flat surrounded by what he called `the Museum mistakes', and devoting all his resources to collecting, but he is known to have been a keen skater. From 1924 when he offered the first objects to the Museum on loan, to 1956 when the huge collection was bequeathed, Hildburgh was part of the Museum landscape. We continue to benefit from his generosity; his will set up a fund for future purchases, administered in the spirit of his earlier acquisitions.
Although salts are a frequent item in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century inventories, few examples like this one survive. There is an almost identical piece in the Alorda Derksen collection (Barcelona), differing only in that it has applied feet on the base section alone (see Esteras Martín: 2005, cat. no. 24).

This salt cellar can be detached into three parts, each standing on shell-shaped feet. The containers were used for salt or sugar and the top part was a sprinkler for spices.

This piece suggests a reaction in early 17th century Spain against the severity of the Herreran style, influential in Spanish goldsmiths' work in the later 16th century. Although the pilaster ornament is a remnant of the earlier style, the surfaces are now covered with engraved scrolls and colourful enamel medallions with ornate patterns. Such pieces can be found in displays of Spanish silver in still-life paintings of around the 1620s, such as that of Juan Bautista de Espinosa.

M.375:1 to 3-1956