In general salt cellars may be classified as follows, commencing with the Standing Salt, with its determination of rank as to those who sat above the salt and those who sat below it:--
=Standing Salts.=--The earliest are shaped like hour-glasses. These belong to the fifteenth and first half of sixteenth century.
Cylindrical and casket forms, with rich ornamentation in repoussé work, with chased figures and surmounted by cover with standing figure, are found in the sixteenth century. _E.g._ the Standing Salt, part of the Stoke Prior treasure, dated 1563 (at the Victoria and Albert Museum).
The Bell-shaped Salt is of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and the tall Steeple Salt belongs to the same period. The above types often had compartments in tiers reserved for spices.
Having the arms of the company and inscribed “_Ex dono Henrici Sumner. Mr._” This is known as the Sumner Salt, the gift of the Master of that date.
(_By courtesy of the Mercers’ Company._)]
The circular and octagonal forms of lesser height, with three and sometimes four guards with scroll ends, belong to the seventeenth century.
=Trencher Salts.=--These were in use contemporaneously with the tall standing salts, either on less formal occasions or at the lower end of the table below _the_ salt.
Early forms in the first half of the seventeenth century are circular (1603) or triangular (1630). These were diminutive, measuring only some 3 inches across, and being sometimes only 1 inch high.
=Eighteenth-century Salts.=--A great variety of form is apparent, and many styles succeeded each other, disappearing only to be revived a quarter of a century later. Circular (1698-1710), oval, octagonal (1715-40), tripod (1750). Circular with three feet; oblong and octagonal, slightly taller (1775), with pierced work on four feet, and with glass liner. Oblong, plain, with four feet. Tureen-shaped or boat-shaped, plain, with swelling foot, sometimes with rings as handles, or with two handles (1780). Shell-shaped salts in vogue 1788; circular, vase-shaped, with lions’ heads and tripod feet (1798).
=Early Nineteenth-century Salts.=--George IV and William IV styles, a reversion to some of the older types. The tureen and the circular-shaped salt, with four or three feet (1820-1830). Circular bowls on stands, with tripod and elaborate feet, the fashion (1810-1830). Many pieces betray classical influence.