  About the Artwork
  
  
  The excerpts from Persian poems inscribed on this lidded container from Mughal India reveal the purpose of the object: to hold salt. Its inscriptions also record the name of its owner, a government official named Muhammad Husayn, and its date, 1664 - 65.

Covered in floral imagery, the saltcellar would have been one of many luxury objects displayed and used during meals hosted by Muhammad Husayn. Its naturalistic flowers may have recalled a fragrant garden - a popular setting for dinner parties among the Mughal elite.  

One of the inscribed verses - "A host places a saltcellar on the table first" - comes from a couplet by the Iranian poet Sa'ib Tabrizi, who lived in India from 1625-32. The authorship of the other lines is no longer known, but Muhammad Husayn and his dining companions must have identified the poets and relished their wordplay.
  
  
  Title
  Saltcellar inscribed with Poem about Salt
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1664 and 1665
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Indian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  Mughal
  
  
  Medium
  Copper and tin
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall (including lid): 3 1/2 × 3 3/4 inches (8.9 × 9.5 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Metalwork
  
  
  Department
  Islamic Art
  
  
  Credit
  City of Detroit Purchase
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  30.432
  
  
  Copyright
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