Benvenuto Cellini’s Saliera
Benvenuto Cellini was a Renaissance sculptor with an infamous reputation. He was known to get into fights, commit murders, and embezzle money. He was sentenced to death and imprisoned numerous times, but he either escaped or was forgiven of his crimes so that he could work for one wealthy aristocrat or another. He first received recognition in Rome for his metalwork, where he made seals and medals for the high-ranking members of the church. In return, he was pardoned for his crimes.
He was imprisoned in Rome in 1537 but escaped only to be recaptured. However, he was released so that he could work for Cardinal d’Este of Ferrara. It was in the Cardinal’s employ that he presented a wax model of an intricate salt shaker, but the Cardinal refused the expense. Cellini decided to try his luck in France and presented the model to King Frances I, who commissioned the piece.
The stunning golden shaker depicts Neptune and Tellus, the gods of the sea and earth. Under the shaker are rollers so the king could push the shaker and move “the world” with his fingers. It was said that when the king first saw the shaker he “gasped in amazement and could not take his eyes off it.” Today it remains the only surviving work of Cellini that is made in precious metals, and it remains his most famous work.
When the Nazis made their way through Italy, it was seized from the Vienna Kunsthistorische Museum. It was in Kitzbuhel, Austria that Monuments Man Calvin Hathaway discovered the salt cellar. The cellar was returned to the museum and is estimated to be worth more than $60 million today.
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