Salt Dish 1790 - 1830

Curator: This is a Salt Dish, created anonymously between 1790 and 1830. You can find it here at the Art Institute of Chicago. What’s your initial take on it? Editor: It’s simple, almost austere. The clear glass is unadorned but for those molded fluted patterns down the body. Makes me think of early industrial processes, almost like a test piece of what glassmaking was becoming. Curator: The ubiquity of salt is quite significant; not only did it ensure preservation, but to spill it was an omen of very bad things. Consider that this small, beautiful object wasn't simply functional but a ward against misfortune. Editor: Absolutely. The value we placed on this simple mineral and, consequently, on the vessel that held it. Look at the way the form elevates the salt, presenting it almost ritually. We often overlook how labor-intensive the glassmaking would have been then, and how possessing something like this represented a specific tier of wealth and consumption. Curator: And the material itself is suggestive: glass is neither solid nor liquid, yet possesses qualities of both. In a symbolic context, this "in-between" state hints at thresholds, transition and the mediation of both the mundane and sublime experiences of daily life. Editor: Yes, there’s also something to be said for the way glass itself allowed light to refract and play upon something so common, so critical. An alchemic reaction on something fundamental! It’s subtle, quiet elegance that speaks volumes about labor and material culture. Curator: In a humble, understated way, it underscores the value—literal and symbolic—placed upon everyday rituals of nourishment, purity and domestic life during this time. Editor: Indeed. Its modest form reveals deeper narratives of labor, resource, and status through what something as small as salt was contained within.