Dish 1793 - 1813

This pewter dish was crafted by Jacob Eggleston, an American artisan, in the late 18th or early 19th century. A simple, functional object, it carries the weight of centuries of cultural memory. Consider the circle: the plate's form is a symbol of cyclical time and continuity, an ancient symbol appearing in countless contexts. The dish echoes the shape of mandalas, shields, and halos; forms that create a field, implying containment, protection, and community. Across cultures, the act of sharing a meal from such a dish resonates with rituals of kinship, sacrifice, and communion. This seemingly modest plate has provided a vessel of nourishment, both physical and spiritual, linking our present to the past. The circle, therefore, is not static. It represents the eternal return of symbols, constantly reinvented and reinterpreted, resonating within the depths of our collective consciousness.