Pair of Double Salt Dishes (Paire de salières)

This double-salt cellar was added to a 525 piece dinner and dessert service commissioned by French King Louis XVI and known as the guirlandes de barbeaux (garlands of cornflowers) service. Between 1783 and 1790 broken or damaged objects from this service were replaced on an annual basis. Objects in this service were made of both soft and hard-paste porcelain, the latter made possible by the discovery of the ingredient kaolin in France in 1768-69.