Antique silver-plated mustard pot

This fine quality, Victorian, silver-plated mustard pot has an octagonal body that has been beautifully hand-engraved with leaf and scroll detail to complement the shaped scroll border. It has blue glass liner to protect the interior from the mustard.

Mustard has been a popular condiment since medieval times and grand houses would appoint their very own mustarder, whose solely responsibility was to make sure the household mustard was always topped up. In those days mustard was used in dry powder form.

With growing popularity in the 18th century, mustard was produced in wet form and the desire for a specific container to serve it at the table. This spawned a variety of styles and designs, some of them in novelty forms.

Elkington is one of the most important names in English silver and certainly the most important in silver plate. Established by George Richards Elkington in 1836, and joined by other Elkington family, the firm revolutionised the silver industry with its electroplating technique developed and perfected by George Richards Elkington. He discovered and patented a way to deposit a layer of silver and fuse it onto the surface of a base metal. It was extremely successful and gave birth to a large new market of silver-plated tableware and a collection of royal warrants. The firm employed some of the best British and European designers of the day and produced decorative silver in a wide variety of styles.