Shell Bodies: The Creative Agency of Molluscs across Cultures

Abstract

In early modern China and Europe, shell-building organisms were considered human-like in their abilities to design and construct proto-architectural geometric shapes. Likewise, images of birds hatching from shells feature prominently in sources from both cultures, evoking associations between shells and eggshells, molluscs that craft their own houses and birds that build their own nests. This chapter considers the creative agency of molluscs as reflected in Eurasian thought, art, and material culture, conceptualizing shells as ‘clever’ objects that informed artisanal and scientific practices across cultures. Against the background of transcultural narratives on the generation of pearls that attribute molluscs with female features, the chapter presents evidence of a shared ecological understanding of the material agency of shells across early modern Eurasia.