Stonyhurst Salt
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: John Robinson
- Made in: London (England)
- Date: 1577-1578 (hallmarked for London)
- Object type: salt
- Materials: rock crystal; ruby; garnet; enamel (?); silver
- Museum number: 1958,1004.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is the "Stonyhurst Salt," a remarkable piece crafted in London in the late 1570s. You're looking at a shallow circular bowl with delicate chased petal flutes and matted foliage, likely once adorned with red and green enameling. Four lion masks are applied around the rim — two of them hold faceted crystal beads — while scrollwork borders the edge.
The salt’s structure is equally striking. At the center is an oval cabochon crystal, ringed by silver-gilt straps. Beneath lie two crystal columns and silver-gilt scrolls resting on clawed feet set with rubies and what were once gemstones known as carbuncles.
The domed base and cover feature intricate chases of fruit, masks, and more gemstones. A rectangular crystal rises from the cover to a finial. Created after the Reformation, it was made partly from melted-down church silver. Hallmarked in London in 1577, this is a rare secular piece that survived with its fine jewelwork intact.
See it in person
Stonyhurst Salt is on display in Room 46 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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