AFA 22nd Anniversary

22nd Anniversary 62 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com WINTERTHUR PRIMER A s diverse arts attest, the pigments and patterns of tortoiseshell, whether original or imitation, are beguiling to humans. Whether you fancy the honey-golden hues and deep cloudy browns on eyeglass frames, collect japanned items and antique tortoiseshell creamware dishes, or simply live with a tortoiseshell cat, you are participating in a seemingly timeless aesthetic taste (Fig. 1). The natural material called tortoiseshell was actually shell harvested primarily from hawksbill and green marine turtles. Their protective curved shell has individual plates, called scutes, that can be reshaped by heating, with results that dramatically distanced the material from its origins as a turtle. Other artistic techniques involved flattening or pressing, veneering or carving, or highly polishing and sometimes color enhancing the translucent parts with red paper or fabric backing. The strong, pliant material could be decoratively pierced and inlaid with marine shell or costly silver and gold (Figs. 2-3). 1 Countless craftspeople were creatively drawn to the lush, overlapping pigments and translucent areas, as well as to its smooth, tactile surfaces. Spectacles makers adopted tortoiseshell to conform to lenses for attractive, lightweight frames (Fig. 4). Marine turtles navigate warm currents and historically flourished in tropical coastal waters near Asia, the Philippines, and the Americas. The turtle shell trade was strongly established in inter-Asian Timeless Tortoiseshell by AnnWagner Considering Animals in the Arts clockwise from upper left Fig. 1: Ivory Pyralin Du Barry: The Name-Stamp Means the Gift is Genuine, advertisement for duPont Ivory Amber Shell Pyralin, 1923. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Hagley Library (dpads-1803-00059). Pyralin is a celluloid colored to imitate ivory and tortoiseshell. Figs. 2-3: Box, probably made in China for trade, ca. 1770–1820. Tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, brass, wood. Winterthur Museum; Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont (1961.1452).