Salt Cellar c. 1941

This is Carl Buergerniss's pencil drawing of a 'Salt Cellar'. Salt cellars, like this one, were once ubiquitous symbols of wealth and status. In earlier times salt was a precious commodity. The design of this piece with its cut glass, transforming the humble mineral into something precious, speaks volumes. Buergerniss, born in 1877, lived through periods of immense social and economic change, witnessing shifts in class structures. His artistic eye transforms this everyday object into something worth contemplating. The choice of such a mundane, yet historically significant, item invites us to reflect on how our perceptions of value shift over time and how objects carry the weight of societal narratives. Consider how something as simple as a salt cellar can evoke questions about class, history, and the subtle ways we assign value to objects.