ORNAMENTAL USES OF SHELLS 



119 



twelve "proper materials" of ornament 

 derived from the visible universe — 

 which with Raskin was the most valid 

 and the truest source of decorative 

 ideas. The sixth of these, in a progres- 

 sion upward, was shells, of which he 

 wrote : 



" 1 place these lowest in the scale (after 

 inorganic forms) as being monlds or coats 



of organisms: not themselves organic. The 

 sense of this, and their being mere emptiness 

 and deserted houses, must always prevent 

 them, however beautiful in lines, from being 

 largely used in ornamentation. It is better 

 to take the line and leave the shell. One 

 form, indeed, that of the cockle, has been in 

 all ages used as the decoration of half-domes, 

 which were named "conchas" from their shell 

 form: and I believe the wrinkled lip of the 

 cockle, so used, to have been the origin, in 

 some parts of Europe at least, of the exuber- 

 ant foliation of the round arch. The scallop 

 also is a pretty radiant form, and mingles 

 well with other symbols when it is needed." 



Ruskin is always naively interest- 

 ing, often stimulating, not invariably 

 rational. The palette of nature has 

 been more lavishly requisitioned • in 

 other areas of animal life, but it would be 

 a crabbed and carping judgment to deny 

 the charm of color in shells, its abun- 

 dant variation or the delicacy of its em- 

 ployment; while the shells themselves are 

 as organic as is a skeleton, or the ribbed 

 and netted framework of a leaf. Very re- 

 . cently Mr. Y. Hirase of the Kyoto 

 Conchological Museum, published 



' Reproduced from the clay model through 

 the courtesy of the sculptor. 



Fountain design i by Mr. F. B. Clark. The shell motive is introduced in the mermaid's headdress and 

 further accentuated by the cornice of mingled shells around the basin 



