The commissioned work was developed from 1540 to 1543 while the goldsmith was in Paris. King Francis I of France had built the salt cellar, which was later given to Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, and thus came into the possession of the Hapsburgs.

Cellini's masterpiece is an allegorical representation of the planet Earth.

The figures were driven out of gold foil.

The artist, in his self-written biography, which was later translated by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and edited, described the work as follows: "... in order to show how the ocean connects to the earth, I made ​​two characters, a good large palm who sat with crossed legs against each other, as one looks into the arms of the sea running into the ground.