Jacob Gerritse Lansing
Saltcellar

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Saltcellar
Datec. 1785–1803
Made inAlbany, New York, United States
MediumSilver and glass
Dimensions2 1/8 × 3 3/16 × 2 3/8 in. (5.4 × 8.1 × 6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Mrs. Raybourne Thompson
Object numberB.91.53
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Oval salt dishes were a popular eighteenth-century form, fashioned in both the Rococo and Neoclassical idioms. In the United States their designs were derived from imported English silver and silverplate. The Bayou Bend salt is an ambitious elucidation of Neoclassicism, possessing a naive charm that reveals the work of a talented craftsman.

Technical notes: The base is a cut-out oval. The body is seamed on the side. The pearlwork border appears to be handworked. The red glass liner may be original.

Related examples: Most closely related is a pair engraved for Maria Egberts (1748–1819), in Rice 1964, p. 30. In 1776 she married Antony Ten Eyck, a son of Jacob C. Ten Eyck (1705–1793), the Albany silversmith, and a brother of Conradt, who originally owned Bayou Bend’s salt. While it would be natural to assume that their silver was a product of the Ten Eyck shop, the Egberts’s salts are marked with Jacob Gerritse Lansing’s stamp. They are supported by cast scrolled legs seemingly identical to those on the Bayou Bend salt and retain what are believed to be their original red glass liners. The visual and family relationships between these objects is the basis for attributing the Bayou Bend salt.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceConradt Ten Eyck (1741–1832) and Charlotte Ten Eyck (b. 1751); inherited their daughter Maria (Mrs. Jonas Bronck); inherited by her daughter Charlotte (Mrs. Abraham Houghtaling, 1799–1891); inherited by her daughter Emma Agusta (Mrs. Alonzo Newbury, 1840–1913); inherited by her daughter Mary (1880–1965); inherited by her sister Helen (Mrs. Ned Sayford, 1878–1970); inherited by her daughter Mary Helen (Mrs. Raybourne Thompson), Houston; purchased by MFAH, 1991.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on side: Cc[c superscript] _[_ superscript]E [Conradt and Charlotte Ten Eyck]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Pair of Saltcellars
William Gale, Son, & Co.
1852
Silver and glass
B.92.2,.3
Epergne
Robert Hennell I
1796
Silver
B.93.29
Incensario Stand
c. 600–900
Earthenware with pigment
2018.638
Incensario Stand
c. 600–900
Earthenware with pigment
2018.637
Inkstand
Elkington & Co.
c. 1864–1865
Silver and glass
B.76.186.A-.C
Entrée Dish
Thomas Fletcher
c. 1830–1842
Silver
B.94.14.A-.C
Kettle on Stand
John Chandler Moore
c. 1827–1843
Silver
B.94.15.A-.D
Epergne
William Cripps
1754
Silver
2010.35.A-.J
Goblet
Hyde & Goodrich
1849
Silver
B.93.8
Spoon
Jacob Boelen
c. 1675–1700
Silver
B.92.1
Pair of Wine Coolers
Paul Storr
1811–12
Sterling silver, gilt
94.1204.1,.2
Beiderwand Coverlet
Jacob W. Bohn
1846
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.37