Shell Connections: The Exoticization and Eroticization of Asian Maritime Material Culture

Abstract

New knowledge of shell-carving techniques practiced in China changed the way materials were physically manipulated by craftsmen in Europe, a process that contributed to the appropriation but also the exoticisation and eroticisation of collectible shells across Eurasia. Mapping the geography of transcultural connections in maritime material culture, this chapter discusses shells, in particular nautilus shells, in relation to the bodies of early modern artisans and collectors in China and Europe. Examining concepts of material agency and considering objects as ‘actors’, it argues that Guangzhou-carved conches changed early modern European craftsmanship through non-verbal means and shows how shells were perceived in both cultures as gendered objects at the intersection of material collecting and visual fantasies of oceans and foreign spaces.