An extremely rare and early Pair of Chelsea Porcelain Crayfish Salts of the Incised Triangle Period of manufacture, beautifully modelled after the original Silver models by Nicholas Sprimont, each with a crayfish cast from life, climbing over a rock work support, before a naturalistic up turned clam shell, the rocks applied with cast natural English estuary shells and sieved clay simulated seaweeds and corals.

The form of the Salt is based on several original designs by Juste Aurele Meissonier, Orfevre du Roi Louis V. The design was engraved by Gabriel Huquier at the Rue St Jacques: plate 14 in Livre de Legumes Inventees et Dessinees par J.Mer (Meissonier), published Paris 1744. The crayfish salt also derives some inspiration from the silver ‘surtout de table’ which included a pair of remarkable tureens made for Evelyn Pierrepoint, 2nd Duke of Kingston to a design by Meissonier in 1734 by Paris silversmiths Henry Adnet and Pierre Francois Bonnesstrenne.

The design of these extraordinary rococo tureen forms was at the height of the new fashion for expression of natural forms pioneered by Paris silversmiths. The design of the ‘Surtout de table’ was engraved by Huquier for inclusion in his Livres d’Ornaments, featuring designs by Meissonier, plate 115 in folio 72 published in 1744.

Nicholas Sprimont created this model first in silver gilt for inclusion within the ‘Neptune Service’ for Frederick Prince of Wales, these remain in the Royal Collection of His Majesty King Charles III. This essentially ‘royal silver style’ was then translated by Sprimont and his gifted and skilled modellers into porcelain within that very year of 1744 also. See Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea Porcelain, fig 3.2. See also F.S. Mackenna, Chelsea Porcelain, The Triangle and Raised Anchor Wares, pl. 1, no.2  for these precise examples. See Paul Crane, ‘A Question of Attribution: a chinoiserie-moulded Worcester teapot, exemplifying the moulded silver forms of the earliest English porcelain’. ECC Transactions vol. 27, 2016, p. 33-47, pls. 3, 4 and 5.

Provenance: Frank Hurlbutt, Dr F S Mackenna, Selwyn Parkinson and Private Collection.

Marks:  Incised Triangle mark to the underside of each