Salt Cellar with the Life of Hercules, Pierre Reymond

Salt cellars are vessels for serving salt, an expensive spice during this period, as part of a formal dinner setting. In the depression for the salt is an idealized image of deianira, hercules's wife, with the inscription reading, "i am the beautiful deianira. " a parallel image of hercules is on the bottom. On the sides are painted scenes from his life. Visible here are representations of hercules strangling the nemean lion, struggling with achelous (a suitor for deianira) in the shape of a bull, and killing a creature that while identified as cerberus, the three-headed dog from hades, looks like the lernean hydra that was described as having many heads, each on a long neck. Date: after 1535 (Renaissance). Place of creation: Limoges, France. Dimensions: height: 8 cm (3.1 in); diameter: 10.1 cm (3.9 in). Medium: painted enamel on copper. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Workshop of Léonard Limosin - Salt Cellar with the Life of Hercules - Walters 44362

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Author: Workshop of Léonard Limousin (1505–) or Workshop of Pierre Reymond (1513–1584)Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/

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workshop of léonard limosin limoges painted enamels in the walters art museum limoges painted enamels in the walters art museum by léonard limosin 16th-century preserved artefacts heracles in applied arts deianira herakliskos drakonopnigon capture of cerberus salt cellars pierre reymond heracles and achelous alcmene painted enamel on copper walters art museum