Pink-Mouth Murex (phyllonotus erythrostomus)

Pink-Mouth Murex (phyllonotus erythrostomus) — Wenceslaus Hollar. c. 1646.

Medium: Etching on ivory laid paper. Dimensions: Sheet, trimmed within platemark at right: 9.7 × 13.3 cm (3 7/8 × 5 1/4 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

In the 17th century, seashells became popular collectible objects because they were considered rare and exotic. They also became common subjects for still-life paintings known as Vanitas, which symbolically represent the transience of life. The etchings of both Wenceslaus Hollar and Rembrandt van Rijn could represent the simultaneous beauty and fragility of existence. While still lifes in general are exceedingly rare in Rembrandt’s work, Hollar’s etching comes from a series of seashells, consisting of 38 plates. Rembrandt’s shell (1938.1805) could have been inspired by Hollar’s work, though Rembrandt’s decision to render the shell in a three-dimensional space represents a marked difference between the two etchings.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.