Nicholas Sprimont (1716-71), Pair of salts, hallmark 1742-3. Silver gilt, 8.5 x 17.6 x 12.0 cm. RCIN 51392. Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Provenance: Commissioned by Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1742-3.

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, 1st son of George II, King of Great Britain (1707-51)

A pair of silver-gilt salt cellars, each cast as a crab with a large conch shell between its claws; the irregularly shaped base is applied with cast shells and sea foam, supported on three feet cast with coral, shells and sea foam.

This pair of salts, and an accompanying pair mounted with crayfish, form part of the Marine Service created for Frederick, Prince of Wales in the early 1740s. The crabs on this pair, and the crayfish, appear to have been cast from real shellfish. The design for the crab salts may derive from a sixteenth-century bronze inkwell, probably Italian in origin, which was purchased by Sir Hans Sloane in 1725 (now in the British Museum).