Gallery Draft
Balthasar van der Ast, Still Life with Shells, ca. 1640, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
My father kept a speckled conch
By two bronze bookends of ships in sail,
And as I listened its cold teeth seethed
With voices of that ambiguous sea…
–Sylvia Plath, “On the Decline of Oracles”
Shell buttons, Robert E. Coker for the Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, vol. 36, 1917-1918 and digitally preserved by the Freshwater and Marine Image Bank
He had never felt anything so smooth—had never imagined something could possess such deep polish. He asked, nearly whispering: "Who made this?"
–Anthony Doerr, “The Shell Collector”
Hans Sloane’s engraved nautilus shell
I don’t know where I should like to live unless in a nautilus shell.
–Marianne Moore
A small building covered in sea shells in Hamnavoe on the island of West Burra off Shetland Mainland.
Mother of Pearl crucifixion scene, Germany, 15th c.
Mayan shell pendant with crocodiles, 8th. c. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318463
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 12: A member of Mangueira performs during 2024 Carnival parades at Sapucai Sambodrome on February 12, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Kuba-style head piece with cowries https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.29
Shell lampshades, Philippines
Shell with inlaid feline, Ancient Peru, Cleveland Museum of Art
Fijian blowing a "Davui" (conch shell) trumpet. Fiji. South Pacific
Portrait of a Man with a Shell, Thomas de Keyser, ca. 1625-26. Met https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438377
Joel Meyerowitz, shell from Morandi’s studio https://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/publications-/morandis-objects
I have seen dry land made from the deep; and, far away from ocean, sea-shells strewn, and on the mountain-tops old anchors found.
–Ovid, Metamorphoses
Little by little
the ocean
empties its pockets
–Mary Oliver
Susan Collis, The oyster’s our world, 2004. Wooden stepladder, mother of pearl, shell, coral, fresh water pearl, cultured pearls, white opal, diamond
…four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat —
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.
–Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
Tiger cowrie shell snuffbox, c. 1833 https://artbma.org/artwork/tiger-cowrie-shell-snuffbox/
Seaweed samples in shell binding, 19th c. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/alma:99129888493408651
Seaweed samples in shell binding, 19th c. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/alma:99129888493408651
Necklace, Iran, 9th c BCE
Necklace, Iron Age II, Hasanlu Period IV, ca. 9th century BCE
