Cellini Gold Salt Cellar

Although the surviving body of cellini s work is surprisingly small he.

Cellini gold salt cellar.

And then there was the saltcellar. Let s start with the autobiography. 1515 1547 ce now in vienna. Cellini made the thing of gold enamel and ivory between 1540 and 1544 on commission for the king of france.

The saliera is the only work of gold which can be attributed to cellini with certainty and is sometimes referred to as the mona lisa of sculpture. Benvenuto cellini was more than the maker of the world s most expensive saltshaker the cellini salt cellar a goldsmith draftsman author musician soldier and one of the most important sculptors of italian mannerism cellini was also a ruffian who was jailed several times and confessed to three murders. I t is one of the world s greatest renaissance artefacts an extraordinary gold plated saltcellar by the florentine genius benvenuto cellini. From his descendant charles ix it passed to archduke ferdinand ii.

The saliera of rolled gold was created by cellini for francis i of france between 1540 and 1543. Perhaps one of cellini s most famous works is the cellini salt cellar in vienna called the saliera italian for salt cellar a partly enameled gold table sculpture by benvenuto cellini. The cellini salt cellar in vienna called the saliera italian for salt cellar is a part enamelled gold table sculpture by benvenuto cellini it was completed in 1543 for francis i of france from models that had been prepared many years earlier for cardinal ippolito d este. The cellini salt cellar is one of the most striking and celebrated works of mannerist design and one of the world s greatest renaissance artefacts feb 6 2017 david goran the cellini salt cellar is one of the world s greatest renaissance artifacts a part enamelled gold table sculpture created by the florentine genius benvenuto cellini for.

His bombastic autobiography the vita in which he confesses to multiple murders and a spectacular jailbreak and for his salt cellar yes that s right a dish for salt. Sculptor benvenuto cellini is best remembered for two things. A miss is as good as a mile xviii on the morning which followed these events i made the first step in my work upon the great salt cellar pressing this and my other pieces forward with incessant industry. Its right side has a man with a trident and a ship symbolizing water while its left side has a woman representing the earth.

The saltcellar shows an allegory of the earth and the interplay of land and sea. Benvenuto cellini 1500 1571 ce was an italian renaissance sculptor medallist and goldsmith whose most famous works today include the bronze statue of perseus holding the head of medusa which now stands in florence and a magnificent gold salt cellar made for francis i of france r. Gardner summarizes it perfectly in the sixteenth century journal. The cellar is the only remaining work of precious metal which can be reliably attributed to cellini.