FrogFriday 🐸:

Carving of a frog, 700-800 CE Maya culture, Topoxte, Guatemala Shell & quartz, 21/8 x 23/4 x 1/4 in (6.7 X 7 x 0.4 cm) Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala From the exhibition “Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea”

“Originally part of a sumptuous burial offering from the island of Topoxte in Lake Yaxha, this shell carving portrays a smooth and nimble swimming frog, limbs in motion, with pale eyes of inlaid stones. Its captivating color and delicate pattern come from the natural appearance of the Oliva porphyria shell, which is found in the Pacific Ocean in southern Central America.“

#TurtleTuesday :

Nose Ornament in the Form of a Turtle with C-shaped Body Coclé: Venado Beach, Coclé province, Panama, 800-1200 CE Spondylus shell, W. 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.) The Art Institute of Chicago 1969.795

#MosaicMonday:

Hohokam culture (300 BCE-1450 CE), AZ bird-shaped pendants shell & turquoise 9.53 x 8.89 x 3.18 cm / 8.26 x 10.32 x 3.18 cm undated, but similar examples have been dated to the Classic Period c. 1150-1450 Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College P3004a,b

The Ocean's Currency: Cowrie Shells in African Art | The Art Institute of Chicago

Another Spondylus shell ornament, Culture Jama-Coaque, Ecuadorian North Coast 500 BCE - 1530 CE, w3.4 x h6.9 cm. Museo Casa del Alabado / INPC. Listed as a "zoomorphic ornament," but the first thing it made me think of was a male Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), a native species…

Spondylus shell pendant

Chimú, 900-1470 CE

Shell & turquoise

Dumbarton Oaks PC.B.433

“According to 16th century documents, Spondylus shell was considered more valuable than gold or silver in the pre-Columbian Andes. Found in the warm waters off the coast of Ecuador, the bivalve was closely associated with concepts of fertility. Whole shells were placed in burials and agricultural fields, and skilled artists cut and polished shell to create ornaments and beads. This pendant was crafted from a Spondylus princeps valve with inlays of Spondylus calcifer and turquoise to create a design of coastal birds devouring their prey.”

For #WorldSnakeDay:

Rattlesnake Gorget, 16th c.

Mississippian artist, Tennessee

Carved shell

Brooklyn Museum display

“The rattlesnake depicted abstractly on this shell gorget or pendant is a denizen of the underworld, a watery realm associated with death and other supernatural beings, such as the serpent and panther.

For Mississippian people, their trilevel universe also included an upper world, represented by the sun, fire, and a falcon being, and a middle world of earth occupied by human beings. Whelk shells traded from the Gulf Coast region were used to make ritual ornaments worn for ceremonies intended to keep the three realms in balance.”

#MosaicMonday:

Duke Riley’s modern day “Sailor’s Valentines” of seashells & found plastic trash, from his “Death to the Living: Long Live Trash” show at Brooklyn Museum:

1 I'm Delicious, Come On Get Your Money's Worth, 2020

2 Order from Prescription History, 2020

3 If It Feels Good Do It, 2020

Sailor's Valentines

Sailor's valentines were a popular maritime craft in the nineteenth century. These seashell mosaics were arranged in geometric patterns inside small, octagonal wooden boxes. Riley's versions are made using found plastics, reflecting a growing scarcity of seashells on beaches and a concurrent increase in plastic pollution.

The name "sailor's valentines" came from the belief that sailors created these objects for their loved ones while away on long voyages. In fact, the craft originated among wealthy housewives in eighteenth-century London. They were later almost exclusively produced by a curiosity shop owned by B. H. Belgrave in Bridgetown, Barbados, a frequent supply stop for whalers.

For #TurtleTuesday:

Nose Ornament in the Form of a Turtle with C-shaped Body Coclé, 750 - 1250 CE Venado Beach, Coclé province, Panama Carved Spondylus shell Dimensions: W.: 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.) The Art Institute of Chicago