The world of shellworks

Smaller clam shells cover the animal’s flank, while its spine is marked by the pointed shells of sea sails. Its claws are attached to metal sticks, which indicate that the creature was made to be fixed on another object, pedestal or fundament.

Shellworks are not unique to China, where this creature was made. Flower bouquets were, for example, made of shells in nineteenth-century England. Barbados has a tradition of shellworks made for sailors, for example as valentines. Aboriginal women have also crafted diverse objects from shells on Australia’s shores from at least the late nineteenth century onward.

There might be connections between these practices in the framework of colonial relationships.[Duggins 2016] Yet, the shell creature from nineteenth century China seems not to have been influenced by either British, Australian or Barbadian works.