UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active in 1500-1510 in Padua)

Sea Snail

1500-10
Bronze, diameter 8 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

In the collections of the Renaissance period, which during the course of the 16th century developed into the famous "Kunst- und Wunderkammern" (cabinets of art and wonders), objects were combined which above all aroused astonishment whether they were of natural or artificial origins.

The present creature is a figment of imagination in which the cast of a snail was combined with a conch in order to create a curiosity.