Cloches (dish covers), coolers, soup tureens, sauceboats, salt cellars, pepper and mustard pots c. 1819

This is a silver gilt dish made by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot, a piece of tableware from a larger set that once graced a table of distinction. Note the stylized palmette motif that encircles the rim. Palmettes, derived from the palm tree, were ancient symbols of victory and eternal life. In ancient Egypt, the palmette adorned sarcophagi, assuring rebirth. This motif reappears across time; it's seen in ancient Greek friezes and Renaissance ornaments. Here, the palmette's presence on a mere dish cover connects us to a timeless human longing, our collective, subconscious desire for triumph and perpetuity. It represents a cyclical progression, a motif that has resurfaced, evolved, and taken on new meanings in vastly different historical contexts.