ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE REYMOND (C.1513-1584), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY

Hexagonal Salt Cellars showing the Labors of Hercules have been called ‘Francis I cellars’ in reference to King Francis I of France (1494-1547) who commissioned a pair of salt cellars in this shape and subject with his effigy and two of his mistresses on the shallow bowls at top and bottom called salerons. Several examples are known of Pierre Reymond using this subject on salt cellars both in colors and grisaille.
This salt cellar compares to a pair at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London of the same size and also in colors (acc. 8426-1863 and 8427-1863). Like the latter of that pair, this hexagonal vessel shows six of the Labors of Hercules: Hercules supporting the world in place of Atlas, Rescuing Deianeira from the Centaur Eurytion, The Death of Hercules, Hercules and Cerberus, and Liberating Deianeira from the Centaur Nessus.
The bottom saleron of the present lot also compares to the bottom of a Francis I cellar at The Walters Art Museum (inv. 44.362 sometimes also attributed to Leonard Limousin). It similarly shows an effigy of Hercules with a lion headdress, decorated at the edges with alternating white and purple roses connected by leafed stems which alternate blue and green.