Salt shaker from the dinner service

A dinner service salt cellar with the grass pattern The salt cellar is part of a dinner service made in the porcelain manufactory in Vienna. Established in 1718, the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory was the second, after Meissen, porcelain manufactory in Europe and continued to operate until 1864. Dinner, breakfast, tea, coffee and chocolate services formed a significant part of the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory's production, especially from the 4th quarter of the 18th century onwards. The dinner service, whose part was acquainted by the Museum, was created when the Viennese manufactory was headed by Matthias Niedermayer (1805 - 1827). The purchased part of the service consists of several dozen pieces: shallow plates, soup tureens, salad bowls, fruit baskets, platters, salt cellars, a jug and a pitcher. The service was purchased by the Museum in Łańcut in 1964 from Franciszek Żaba. Teresa Grzybkowska erroneously believes that the service was ordered by the owner of the Łańcut Castle, Elżbieta Lubomirska (1736 -1816), for Henryk Lubomirski, who was her pupil (T. Grzybkowska, Kobieta wodzem chwalebnego czynu [The Woman as the Leader of a Glorious Deed], Warsaw-Toruń 2018, p. 228, il. 144). It is a service in the classicist style. It was made of milky white porcelain. It is decorated with a pattern of field grasses painted with two shades of green: grass and buckwheat, and dark grey in the form of delicate lines plasticising the drawing of grasses. The green strands of grasses are varied by tiny flowers, painted in rusty red and cornflower blue, and light yellow marking their centres. The service salt cellar is round with profiled rim, with dimpled semi-circular surface, supported on three legs. The walls are decorated with a pattern of field grasses. A navy-blue painted coat of arms is at the bottom, under a nine-petalled crown painted in green and violet. The edges of the salt cellar are highlighted with gold stripes, also, the feet are gilded. Barbara Trojnar