There is one other image of this object. This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions), and as such we offer a high-resolution image of it. See our image rights statement.

 

See more objects with the tag mythology, dining, royalty, salt, eggs, metalwork.

See more objects with the color wheat rosybrown or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

-0001

1996

  • We acquired this object.

2006

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Design for a Salt Cellar and Egg Dish with Fork and Spoon

This is a Drawing. It was attributed to Ottavio Strada and studio of Francesco Salviati. It is dated late 16th century and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, charcoal or black chalk traces, ruled lines in leadpoint on cream laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The acquisition of this contemporary copy, after a lost Salviati original, would fill a gap in our collection of Italian Renaissance decorative arts material. This drawing will be featured in the exhibition prepared by Cooper-Hewitt’s curators in conjunction with students of the Cooper Hewitt/Parsons Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts, Disegno: Italian Renaissance Designs for the Decorative Arts (February 11–May 18, 1997). The exhibition, which will be seen by Renaissance decorative arts and drawings scholars and the general public, along with its related catalog, will provide a unique opportunity to study the drawing in a larger context in order to reach new conclusions about its attribution and its relationship to similar designs that appear to come from the same studio.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled A Novel Way to Eat Your Eggs.

It is credited Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and General Acquisitions Endowment Funds.

Its dimensions are

42.9 x 27.9 cm (16 7/8 x 11 in.)

It has the following markings

Watermark: cross bow with loop, encircled (Briquet 759, Rome c. 1562-1563)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in pen and brown ink on the plan across bottom: questo e la forma e il garbo che si ha / adare all saliera e ovarola (this is the form and graceful style that must be used on the saltcellar and egg dish); annotated in pen and brown ink at upper right: -6-

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for a Salt Cellar and Egg Dish with Fork and Spoon; Attributed to Ottavio Strada (Italian, 1550 – 1612); Studio of Francesco Salviati (Italian, 1510 – 1563); Italy; pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, charcoal or black chalk traces, ruled lines in leadpoint on cream laid paper; 42.9 x 27.9 cm (16 7/8 x 11 in.); Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and General Acquisitions Endowment Funds; 1996-20-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18653389/ |title=Drawing, Design for a Salt Cellar and Egg Dish with Fork and Spoon |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>