A FAMOUS SALT CELLAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 284, 27 August 1919, Page 5

A FAMOUS SALT CELLAR

NAMED IN THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. Although not made a part of the Treaty of Peace, as were the skull ■ of Okwawa, the Koran of Othmnn, and tliß secret correspondence of Napoleon 111, the transference of which was duly stipulated, the Government of Italy has seized Hie occasion of the general readjustment of the , world affairs to make a. demand that Austria, or whatever remains of it, shall make restitution of the "salt cellar of Beikvenufo Cellini," a masterpiece of the goldsmith's art that dates back to the sixteenth century; now in the Museum of Vienna (states the New York "Evening Post"). Upon what basis the demand is made.does not appear in tho news dispatch announcing, the fact, but the mere fact that the coveted article is in Hapsburg hands warrants the presumption that it was part of the loot of some forgotten war.

The famous salt cellar is considered one of the finest examples of the skill of the eccontric master craftsman whoso achievements in gold, bronze, and silver are held by critics to 'bo the most artistic productions of the designer's art the world ever has 'mown. It was constructed for.Francis I, King of France, some ti.ne about the middle of the sixteenth century. It is a most elaborate piece of work, the figures being of solid gold upon an ebony bnse. Tho artist Benvemito Cellini (15001571) was an, Italian, born in Florence. He was a contemporary of tho "divine Michael Angelo." who held his work in high esteem. In his "autobiography"— one of tho most singular and fascinating books in all tolls the story of his life, and 'hie career, according to his own account, was one filled with more marvellous odyenturos than ever Othello whispered into tho par of Desdemona. The vivid imaginative powers of Collini are nowhere in all hie works, of art more startlingly exemplified than in this unique book. Hero one may read of one homicide after another committed by the artist and complacently justified by his own system of casuistry; of heroic deeds done on the field of battle; of hie many imprisonments and escapes; of his armours and hatreds, his passions and delights; ..his abounding enthusiasm for the exquisite in nrt; and of hie strange hallucinations; during which ; ho fancied that he had tho power to revoke a legion of devils or to be transported to distant pkces by angelic hosts. Once ho thought ho was poisoned by '"diamond dust" in his food and another -time he cured himself of a disorder by eating peacock's flesh.