Everyone aboard the spice train

The Spice Must Flow

This is another example of why I wish I had more talent so that I could make one of these. This is a spice cellar currently in the possession of The Walters Art Museum (54.2501) and dates to around 1400.

This spice cellar, made to hold precious seasonings at the table, is of a typical northern European design. Major trade commodities in ancient and medieval times, salt and other spices were used both to preserve meat and to enhance the flavor of all types of food (often not very fresh). Some spices came from Asia and were very expensive. This whimsical container, in the form of a little ship on wheels, could be rolled from one guest to another.

This could have held salt in one half of the ship and ground pepper in the other half. This most likely was not made for major royalty, the details from the Museum does not list a maker or an original owner, but it appears to me that this spice cellar was not as valuable as some of the spices that it might have once held (again, the Museum does not indicate if any traces of spices were found in it during its two cleanings). The cellar is made of bronze and it very nicely made, but it is not on the high end of such items that have survived.

Certainly this was made for someone with wealth, most likely someone in the top 2% of society, but it doesn't appear as fancy as what was commissioned by the top rung of wealth. A cellar, such as this, and the spices to put into it, would have been out of the reach of most of the 15th century, European inhabitants. But if this was the Jaguar of spice cellars, let me show you an example of a custom made Bently:

This is one of the finest examples of Baroque metalworking in the world. This is a solid gold salt cellar, on a base of ebony, sitting on ivory bearing, made by Benvenuto Cellini in 1543 for France's Fancois I and it is a masterpiece. See this link for physical details and this one for pictures of it. It depicts "Terra e Mare": The god of the sea and the goddess of the earth. Next to the god, on the back of this image, is a goblet to hold salt (from the sea) and a hidden compartment in the temple, next to the goddess, held pepper (from the earth). 

We might never know who owned the little, bronze, wheeled ship, or who made it, but I think I can say that it wasn't a king. Or a doge, or a pope, or a cardinal, or a prince. It might have been for a baron, or a wealthy knight. Perhaps an abbess from a small abbey. Someone with enough wealth to show off, but not enough to afford gold.

Also, these salt cellars, or spice cellars, weren't just about the cellar; they were about the salt and the spices that they held. I find it most amusing that we take for granted perfectly uniform, bright white salt crystals and pay extra for "impure" salts because we like their colors: pink salt from the Himalayas; red and black from Hawaii; blue from Persia; gray from France. When these two cellars were made, white salt was prized above all else and reserved for the tables of the most important (i.e.: wealthiest) people. Colored salt was filled with impurities that were fine for the lower classes, but the upper crust? Never. Salt cellars, or nefs, were a way of showing off one's wealth. Not only does it show that you can afford the best salt, but you can afford a tchotchke to put it in. If it was on wheels, even better. If it had hidden compartments, bonus.