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Woman with a Shell: Transcultural Exchange, Female Bodies and Maritime Matters

This chapter discusses images of women with shells across Eurasia and the artistic
 negotiation of materiality and corporality, objectification and sexual agency,
 intimacy and distance in both physical and geographical senses. While some of the
 works discussed are well-known representations of Venus surrounded by sexualised
 objectscapes, the chapter also introduces religious imagery framed by shells and
 women with shells in early modern Chinese and Japanese paintings. Despite their
 differences, all of these works link female bodies to objects of maritime material
 culture. The chapter argues that in China and Europe, images of women with
 shells are visual and material reflections of foreign (underwater) spaces full of
 riches, paradise-like realms that not only promise material affluence but also
 erotic fulfilment.