Mustard pot 1748 - 1749

This is a silver mustard pot, standing just over four inches high, made by Guillaume Egée, a silversmith who lived and worked in France across the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In its intricate detailing, the pot speaks to the grand tastes of the French court, but, as a functional object, it also hints at the emerging rituals of bourgeois life in this period. Through the 1700s, dining became an increasingly public and theatrical affair, as more and more people had the money and space to hold banquets in their homes. New rules of etiquette were written and disseminated in conduct books; specialized dishware became fashionable. To understand these objects more fully, we need to consult sources from the period: inventories, trade directories, and the illustrated encyclopedias that were then being produced for the first time. Only by understanding the object’s social context can we truly understand its form and function.