[MR] question on heraldic beasts

[Karen]

Christiane wrote:

> I would hate to decorate my tableware with heraldic beasts that one
> might assume were my device/badge/whatever.

You could certainly use the seahorse unicornate -- "Spike" -- as a
heraldic beast, as it is the badge for any member of the populace of
this kingdom. :)

The 15th century majolica (the drug jars at the Getty and the pitchers
in the artwork) is another way to incorporate heraldic beasts, even if
they are not part of your personal heraldry; the designs could be
adapted to suit other shapes of ceramicware (Historic Enterprises has
feast gear inspired by that style of majolica).

Similarly, if you were to weave or embroider bands for Perugia-style
linen, you could use pretty much any heraldic beasts which you find
appealing, but I'd recommend designing it towards period style.  (There
are some neat heraldic beast patterns in the reprints of Sibmacher's
modelbooks of the late 16th & early 17th centuries which are
particularly inspiring for this sort of thing.) :)

Should also mention -- some of the saltcellars I'd posted last night
are "master salts" -- it is that sort of saltcellar which marks the
division between those who were "above the salt" and those who were
"below the salt.  I think the "trencher salt" style -- more of a
shallow open bowl -- would have been used elsewhere at the table.  I am
having difficulty finding online images of trencher salts predating the
18th century, though they appear in wills before that time.

There is a lovely 15th century saltcellar at
http://www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/ash/objectofmonth/2003-08/theobject.htm
(sorry, forgot to include it in last night's rambly posting); if you
click on the "Related Objects" link, you'll find a picture of a simple
medieval pottery salt, and a Renaissance-era saltcellar depicting
Triton riding on a tortoise. :)

For New Year's Eve in 1588/1589, Queen Elizabeth of England was given
"By Sir John Parrett, one very small salte of aggett, with a cover and
foote gold enamyled, garnished with small sparkes of rubyes and
oppalls, the foote garnished with like rubyes, per oz. 1 oz. 3
quarters."

There are also etiquette rules written about the use of saltcellars:

"Look that your salt be fine, white, fair, and dry; and have your
salt-plane of ivory, two inches wide and three long; and see to it that
the lid of the salt-cellar touch not the salt."  (Duties of a Pantler
or Butler, John Russell's Book of Nurture, MS. Harl. 4011, ca. 1460,
and earlier editions)

"My son, it is now the time of day to lay the table ... Take one end of
the towel in your left hand, as the manner is, together with the
salt-cellar -- look you do this -- and take the other end of the towel
in your right hand with the spoons and knives.  Set the salt on your
lord's right hand [side] ... When your sovereign's table is dressed in
this array, place salts on all the other tables."  (The Buttery, ibid.)

"In salt-cellar if thou put
Or fish or flesh that men see it,
That is a vice, as men me tells;
And great wonder it would be else." (The Book of Courtesy, MS. Sloan
1986, ca. 1460)

"Do not touch the salt in the salt-cellar with any meat; but lay salt
honestly on your trencher, for that is courtesy." (The Babees' Book, or
A Little Report of How Young People Should Behave, MS. Harleian 586,
ca. 1475)

"Put not thy meat into the salt,
Into the cellar, that is a fault
But lay it fairly thee before,
Upon thy trencher, that is good lore." (The Little Children's Little
Book, MS. Harl. 540, ca. 1480)

"Take your salt with a clean knife." (The Young Children's Book, MS.
Ashmole 61, ca. 1500)

"And wheresoever thou be to dine or sup,
Of gentleness, take salt with thy knife." (The Boy Standing at the
Table, republished several times in the 15th & 16th centuries)

"And sup not loud of thy pottage, no time in all thy life.
Dip not thy meat in the salt-cellar, but take it with a knife." (Hugh
Rhodes' Boke of Nurture and School of Good Manners, 16th century)

"Salt with thy knife then reach and take,
The bread cut fair, and do not it break." (How to Order Thyself Sitting
at the Table, Francis Seager's School of Virtue, 1577)

See "The Babees Book: Medieval Manners for the Young" (ed. Edith
Rickert) for these and other English language etiquette manuals. :)

Karen