Salt 1784

This striking blue salt, crafted by the New Bremen Glass Manufactory between 1784 and 1795, speaks volumes despite its humble purpose. The color itself, a vibrant cobalt, conjures images of lapis lazuli, a stone prized since antiquity and associated with royalty and divinity. Consider the role of salt through the ages. More than just a seasoning, it has been a preservative, a currency, and a symbol of purity and incorruptibility. We find it in ancient Egyptian burial rituals, Roman military rations, and, of course, the biblical injunction to be the "salt of the earth." This seemingly simple vessel thus becomes a nexus of cultural memory, a carrier of profound historical weight. Note how its very presence on the table invites ritual, repetition, and transformation. It is not merely an object but an active participant in the theater of daily life, infused with the accumulated meanings of generations past.