
Double Salt (one of a pair)
<p>This pair of double salts is part of a vast service made for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister Pauline on the occasion of her marriage to the Roman nobleman Camillo Borghese, Sixth Prince of Sulmona.</p> <p>In the years after the French Revolution, architects and designers adopted the visual language of ancient Greece and Rome to express the new imperial order. Napoleon, hoping to promote Paris’s luxury trades, commissioned several silver dinner services as gifts to be sent abroad. The slender outlines and smooth surfaces of the vessels in the Borghese service contrast with the rich decoration.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1794
- Medium
- Gilt silver
- Dimensions
- Salt bowls: Diam.: 9.5 cm (2 1/8 in.); ; Overall: 22 × 20.5 cm (8 1/2 × 8 1/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist
More
More by Martin-Guillaume Biennais
Pair of Bonbon Dishes
1819 · Silver gilt and glass
Salt Spoons (2)
1815 · Silver gilt
Pair of Circular Platters, from a Service Made for Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese
1809 · Gilded silver
Glass Cooler, from a Service Made for Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese
1809 · Gilded silver
Sword of Service and Scabbard
1805 · Silver, gilded silver, steel, gold, mother-of-pearl, wood, leather, and textile
Dish with cover (part of dining service)
1800 · Silver gilt
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Year
- 1794
- Medium
- Gilt silver
- Dimensions
- Salt bowls: Diam.: 9.5 cm (2 1/8 in.); ; Overall: 22 × 20.5 cm (8 1/2 × 8 1/8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1794-125749
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified






