Silver salt shaker-throne of champlevé enamel by Andrei BRAGIN. St. Petersburg, late 19th century.

Silver salt shaker-throne of champlevé enamel by Andrei BRAGIN. St. Petersburg, late 19th century. Compositionally and textured: a dense and capacious work, a storehouse of folk wisdom, with an abundant arsenal of mottos. Decorated as a wooden casket with a towel and carpet ornaments on the outside of the lid. The back of the chair is formed by an arc of a collar or platband with a gable and double-headed silhouette in the middle. There, in orange-red color, a cockerel is depicted with the motto: “There is a land of bread - and under the fir tree there is paradise.” Along the perimeter of the roof, around the solar circle, there is a text: “Our great-grandfathers ate simply and lived until they were a hundred years old.” On the pot-bellied body of the body, decorated with textile ornaments, there is a slogan: “Eat salt and cut bread.” The salt shaker in this case acts as a measure of the moral and vitality of the people. Keeps the measure of sufficiency and unity with the universe. St. Petersburg, around 1880-1890. Jeweler: Andrey BRAGIN. AB hallmarks in a rectangular shield and 88 hallmarks with the coat of arms of St. Petersburg in an oval shield. Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 6 cm. Total weight: 176.0 g. An identical salt shaker was sold at Sothebys in London on June 9, 2010, lot number 547 (for £5,250).