Seashell shaped plate, 1950s.
A dish shaped like a shell, its textured surface capturing the subtle interplay between form and material. With its rippling and luminous surface channels the slow geology of the ocean floor: a fossil of fluidity, frozen mid-motion. This piece transforms a simple domestic object into a sculptural gesture, where design meets the elemental qualities of the sea. Its quiet presence invites tactile engagement, balancing utility with a refined aesthetic sensibility.
The form recalls ancient maritime offerings and the intimacy of tactile rituals: a place to leave a small object, a memory. In its simplicity lies a kind of reverence — for nature’s symmetry, for the poetics of function, for the way water sculpts the world without noise.
Its aquatic resonance places it firmly within the cultural landscape of today, where water emerges not only as an elemental force but as a lens through which we read our present — climate, fragility, transformation. A small object, yes, but one that invites a larger meditation on form, care, and the rhythms of the natural world.
OBJECT SPECIFICATIONS
PRODUCT: Shell-shaped dish
PERIOD: 1930s - 1950s
MATERIAL: German silver / Alpaca
COLOR: Silver
TEXTURE: Smooth reflective - polished with mussel shell ridges
CONDITION: Excellent condition, consistent with use and age
DIMENSIONS: (+-) Width: 10.5 cm; Length: 12 cm; Height: 2.5 cm;
[*Pierre Mignard, Portrait of a Lady in Allegorical Guise, Holding a Dish of Pearls]