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Mustard pot of baluster shape with moulded sides, a splayed foot and a bow handle. The silver-mounted, domed and moulded cover with a cylindrical knob with a hole in the top. The sides with a lotus and a prunus spray, around the foot pointed leaves, around the knob petals, and the handle with cloud motifs.
The consumption of mustard in the West dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans who served mustard with some dishes or used it in sauces. Models of mustard pots were among the European shapes sent to the East and ordered by the VOC to be copied in porcelain. This mustard pot is modelled after examples of silver or pewter. The hole in the cover was supposedly used for a spoon to serve the mustard although these pots exist also with a notch cut in their rims for the same purpose. They were found in the Hatcher wreck (1643) and in the Vung Tau (1690). The scattered sprays suggest a mid 17th century date.
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