Collections Online

Box, silver, in the shape of a scallop shell with four cast shell-shaped feet applied to a sloping lower rim, the box with vertical sides and a lateral division inside across the widest point, a hinged cover in the form of a cockle shell and secured by a catch hinged to the front of the cover and with a square hole that latches onto a pin on the front of the box; the lower rim die-struck with ovolos, strip mouldings applied along the top and bottom edges of the sides, the cover embossed and chased to imitate a cockle shell and its flat back section chased with waves and a half-submerged sea monster, the applied horizontal rim of the cover die-struck with ovolos.

Decorative boxes of this type were made to contain expensive imported sugar or spices. In seventeenth-century Britain, these condiments were commonly used to sweeten or flavour wine.