A matched pair of Victorian silver-gilt salts, one John Samuel Hunt for Hunt & Roskell, London, 1853, the other apparently unmarked, after a design by William Theed

each cast as a kneeling triton grasping an pulling a shell flanked by his tails, on a stylised coral encrusted lobed oval base, one engraved 'Gem. 1, 12.3 II', also stamped with retailers marks; Hunt & Roskell Late Storr & Mortimer 6463, to one, and rubbed to the other

The attribution of this design to the sculptor and painter William Theed (1764-1817) is based on its close similarity to the artist's bronze group, 'Thetis returning from Vulcan with the Arms of Achilles,' which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1812 and is now in the Royal Collection.