Schelp, melo amphora 1644 - 1652

Wenceslaus Hollar, a Bohemian printmaker, created this etching of a Melo Amphora shell. Hollar was prolific, and his works offer insights into the global trade and scientific curiosity of the 17th century. Shells like this Melo Amphora were prized curiosities, collected and displayed as symbols of wealth and worldly knowledge. Their value stemmed from their beauty but also from their rarity and the long, treacherous journeys required to obtain them. We must consider the labor and exploitation inherent in the collection of such objects. The history of natural history is, in many ways, also a history of colonialism and the commodification of the natural world. Here, the detailed rendering of the shell invites a sense of wonder, yet it also prompts reflection on the complex networks of exchange and power that brought such objects into European hands.