Triton with a nautilus shell

Amsterdam, Netherlands, London?, England

This carved nautilus shell was once owned by the famous collector William Beckford, who commissioned the mount in the form of a fish-tailed sea god, probably in London. To carve the shell, the outer layer was cut off and the design was painted on the mother-of-pearl underlayer with a beeswax mixture. The unpainted parts were then corroded away with alchohol and the detail finished with a small scalpel. Beckford had a great admiration for such objects and the combination of precious metals and rare or exotic materials were highly prized as part of cabinets of curiosity.

Earliest Rothschild collector: Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild; b.1839, d.1898

Credit: Waddesdon (Rothschild Family)