Nautilus shell box
Not on view
The fashion for nautilus cups as table decorations originated in the Low Countries, and impresses us as a typical choice for a seafaring nation. Most of the shells came from distant oceans, and their silver or silver-gilt mounts retained the flavor of the sea by featuring marine motifs. From the Low Countries the fashion for these cups spread to Germany and to England. In England they remained rare, however, and so far as we know this is the only English nautilus cup of the period.
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