Salt Cellar c. 1936

John Tarantino rendered this salt cellar, sometime between 1855 and 1995, with watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil. Consider the vessel's form: stacked rings, each a self-contained circle, yet united in a spherical whole. The circle, the sphere—symbols laden with ancient meaning. From the Ouroboros, the snake eating its tail, to the mandalas of Eastern traditions, they echo the cyclical nature of existence itself. The spiral, inherent in the vessel's form, takes us back to the nautilus shell, a symbol of cosmic growth. Even the act of containing salt, a preservative, mirrors humanity's yearning to defy decay and time. This piece, though a simple vessel, connects us to the collective yearning for continuity, for a place within the ceaseless flow of existence. These patterns are not linear; rather, they circle back, evolving, ever-present.