Jens Quistgaard "Mushroom - Single Lip" Salt & Pepper Mill
A carved solid teak Model 831 salt and pepper mill, designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk.
The definitive website on Quistgaard mills, quistgaardpepper.com, refer to this design as "Mushroom - Single Lip". However, we prefer the more visually evocative name "Chess Bishop", as it is reminiscent of a bishop chess piece.
Quistgaard designed his eminently collectable series of combination salt shaker pepper mills between the late 1950's and early 1960's.
Like most of the mills in his circa 60 piece collection, this design holds salt in the top whilst the lower half grinds pepper. The object functions well but it is also very sculptural in shape. Satisfying both these criteria was crucial for Quistgaard.
In Stig Guldberg's 2010 documentary on Quistgaard the latter proclaims: "The finished product must display harmony but its usefulness must not be affected just for the sake of making it pretty. Practical use and beauty of design must go hand in hand."
Model Number: 831
Model Nickname: "Chess Bishop" or "Mushroom - Single Lip"
Designer: Jens Harald Quistgaard
Manufacturer: Dansk Designs
Year of Design: C. 1960
Dates Produced: 1960s-70s, the grinding mechanism on this example dates it to the early- to mid-1970s.
Colour: Brown
Height: 22.5 cm, Diameter: 7 cm
Condition: Very good. A few indentations to top, please see images.
Branding: Underside reads ‘Dansk Designs Ltd Denmark IHQ’.