The Kraków Salt Works Museum has been continuously extending its collection of salt shakers from different eras and continents; currently, it has several hundred items. On our website, we present six of them, distinguished by their intricate decorations, as well as the place and time of their creation...

In Poland, in the 19^th century, the habit of drinking coffee with almond milk was adopted. The very thought of coffee served in this way stimulates the imagination (taste, smell). Although nowadays hardly anyone prepares coffee in this way...

Two curved and crossed cobalt swords are the hallmark of the porcelain factory in Meissen and have marked its products for over three hundred years. The Meissen Royal Factory first started the production of European porcelain. Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, in collaboration with Johann Friedrich Böttger, discovered the closely guarded secret of its production in 1708. Under Böttger’s supervision, pursuant to the Royal Decree, in 1710, Kursächsische Manufaktur started to function in the castle of Albrechtsburg in Meissen.

In everything that surrounded Ainu, in all living things, as well in all objects created by them, the god-spirits lived. The Ainu called them kamuy. These spirits were responsible for all events and phenomena that occurred; this is why it was necessary to honour them and while commencing any work, it was necessary to perform prayers that involved offering them sacrifices. Good spirits were invited to their ceremonies and homes, and, after worshipping them, it was mandatory to send them back to their abodes. According to the Ainu, every object is not only the home of the kamuy spirits but also has a soul — ramat — and whoever or whatever does not possess ramat does not possess anything.

This plate could have been used on the Sabbath or, more likely, during the Purim holiday celebrated in the month of Adar, which symbol is fish, used as an decoration motif in this exhibit. 

Ikebana is the art of arranging flowers which involves the creation of linear harmony and asymmetrical composition while keeping unity among the shapes, rhythms and colours of the material used. Elements used in compositions include branches, leaves, grass, and flowers, as well as vessels, and each of these elements has its own symbolic meaning.

This silver salt shaker, in the shape of a boy pushing a sled, is actually a miniature sculpture. It evokes admiration for the precision of the 19^th century artist from Frankfurt, who, in the microscopic scale of a few centimeters, was able to develop numerous, intricate details and decorations.

One of the most valuable objects in the Museum in Tarnów, due to its artistic status, is a goblet with a lid, and with a depiction of 12 months. It is associated with Saxony, with the Royal Glassworks in Dresden. It has a structure typical of celebratory chalices, and it is additionally enriched with a conical decorative lid.

In the case of the Tarnów collection, the cultural background of the epoch has its counterparts in the Sarmatian culture, characterised by the owner’s need for the ostentatious presentation of his affluence and wealth. The primacy of nobility and magnates, who were in possession of huge estates and enjoyed wide privileges in the 18^th century, influenced the development and industrialisation of the country.

The decoration engraved on the bowl depicts the mythological scene presenting Orpheus sitting under a tree and playing the lyre, surrounded by animals. On the other side the inscription, “Orpheus playing assumedly with a tree and animals”, with spelling mistakes, which allows for attributing this exhibit to Saxon engravers from the Hein family working at that time in the Radziwiłł glassworks in Naliboki.