Deep Thoughts on Early Condiment Spoons and The Mustard Caster

Item 33 in Christopher Hartop's Geometry and the Silversmith: The Domcha Collection is a trio of attractive octagonal baluster casters by John Chartier made in 1719 (50).  The large caster is 7 7/8 inches tall and the pair of smaller casters is 5 7/8 inches tall by 2 1/4 inches in diameter (Ibid.).   Below is a photograph of these same casters for sale with S.J. Shrubsole:

Set of three casters by John Chartier, London, 1719.  Photograph courtesy of S.J. Shrubsole.

Mr. Hartop notes that "[i]t is evident that these sets of casters were used for sprinkling ground substances on food..." and states that sugar is the likely candidate for the large caster and mustard and ground pepper for the smaller (Ibid.).  However, he notes that "the idea prevalent among silver writers that mustard was sprinkled as a powder on to meats is not documented (Ibid.).  Mr. Hartop then cites contemporary descriptions of mustard as being mustard seed mixed with other ingredients to make a paste, and suggests that, because some smaller casters have "blind" covers, it was the paste version of mustard that was served from them (50-51).

If it was the case that powdered mustard was not used and that mustard paste was, how was the mustard paste transferred from the caster to the diner's plate?  Since the covers were blind, the diner could not pour the mustard through the piercing onto his or her plate.  Even if the caster were not blind, this method would seem to have been fairly messy.  This suggests that the diner had to remove the top of the caster in order to get at the mustard.  Where, then, did the top go?  A possible answer is found in a photograph in Michael Clayton's Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver.  This photograph shows a cruet frame of 1719 holding glass bottles and three silver casters of 1724 (104).   Cruet stands typically have a lower surface that the containers rest on, as well as elevated rings of silver to hold the containers in place when the stand is picked up by its central handle.  The photograph in Clayton's book shows two rings of silver without a lower surface, and in one of these rings rests the top of a caster (Ibid.).  So, it would appear that the lid to the mustard caster would be set into one of these rings.

There must have been a spoon for dipping the mustard out of the caster.  I assume that each guest was not provided with their own mustard spoon, meaning that the spoon stayed in the caster.  The spoon, of course, would need to be tall enough to stand above the caster rim.  Mustard spoons and small ladles are widely found from the George III period, but they don't seem as numerous from earlier periods.  Millicent Ford Creech has for sale what is described as a rare early 18th century Hanoverian rattail mustard spoon.  It is 2 1/2 inches long (which doesn't seem tall enough to stand above the caster rim, so perhaps this smaller spoon was rested on a small dish or the diner's plate after use and did not stand in the caster).  David Whitbread, in the  20/05 edition of The Finial , discusses early tea and condiment spoons and illustrates several from his own collection.  What I find interesting and very practical is his statement that, "...as well as using [them] for tea, earlier owners could have also used [them] to eat sweetmeats or a boiled egg, to take medicine and for any other purpose appropriate to [their] size" (10).  Those in his collection that have "outsize bowls" he has been told are condiment or spice spoons (11).  David McKinley, in a follow-up article to Mr. Whitbread's in the 20/06 edition of The Finial, also says that a large bowl in proportion to overall spoon size has been said to indicate its use as a condiment spoon, but is unsure why this should be the case (8).  Perhaps these spoons with the outsize bowls were mustard spoons used with these early casters, but it could just as well be the case that small spoons we know as teaspoons could also have been employed for the purpose.

Is it possible that black pepper and cayenne pepper were used in the non-blind casters in a set of three?  Perhaps, but there are order accounts which imply that sugar, pepper, and mustard were the great triad of caster condiments: In 1689, William Fitzhugh of Virginia ordered from London "a Sett of Castors that is to say for Mustard, Pepper & Sugar (Hartop 50); and the Earl of Orford was sent "sugar pepper and mustard casters" (51). 

If mustard paste was served from a caster, was it the resulting inconvenience that caused the silver mustard barrel/pot to come into being?  In 1724, Horatio Walpole was issued two mustard barrels and two spoons from the Jewel Office (Hartop 51).  Walpole also received two mustard glasses in this order (Ibid.).  I am not sure if these mustard glasses were inserts for the silver mustard barrels, or if they stood as mustard containers on their own, perhaps used when dining en famille.  Mr. Hartop notes further that by the third quarter of the 18th century, the mustard caster was being replaced by the mustard pot (Ibid.). 

Sources:
 Clayton, Michael. Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver.
       Oxford: Phaidon Christie's Limited, 1985. Print.
Hartop, Christopher. Geometry and the Silversmith: The Domcha Collection.
       Cambridge: John Adamson, 2008. Print. 
McKinley, David. "Further Thoughts on Early 18th Century Small Spoons." The Finial 20/06 (Jul/Aug 2010): 8.   
      Web. 17 Aug 2014.
Whitbread, David. "Trefid Tea and Condiment Spoons." The Finial 20/05 (May/June 2010): 10-11. Web. 17 Aug 2014.