A vibrantly colored plate from 400 years ago turns out to be made from seashells!

This artifact, with its rainbow-like hues, is a black lacquer dish inlaid with mother-of-pearl depicting figures and stories in a sunflower shape, housed in the Gushan area of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. It is at least 400 years old, and its exquisitely attractive shape and intricate details are truly unparalleled. As you admire this piece, you'll notice that the iridescent colors on the mother-of-pearl change with the movement of the body, creating a fascinating effect as shades of blue, purple, and pink shift until they return to the natural color of the seashell. Hundreds of years ago, such a time-consuming and labor-intensive luxury item was practically a miraculous existence. The pavilions, terraces, and figures on the plate reflect the living environment of the late Ming period. Can you imagine that these shiny pieces, which adorn household utensils with the beauty of the night sky and stars, are all made from seashells? This technique is known in ancient China as inlaying with mother-of-pearl! Mother-of-pearl inlay was a common material used on traditional Chinese furniture, also known as 'luodian,' 'luolian,' 'luotian,' or 'xianbang,' and is a unique traditional art treasure of China. The explanation of mother-of-pearl inlay in Huang Cheng's 'Xiu Shi Lu' from the Ming dynasty is as follows: mother-of-pearl inlay, also known as 'luotian.' All kinds of patterns, dots, smears, hooks, and lines, are best when they are as fine and dense as a painting, and also when the shell colors are cut and applied according to the colors, the luster is admirable. There are also inlaid pieces, with the edges and cracks all marked with patterns. It refers to the technique of processing the shells of mollusks such as snails, clams, and seashells into thin slices, carving and assembling them into patterns of flowers, figures, birds, and beasts, and inlaying them on the surfaces of lacquer and wood objects. Then, these are set into pre-carved concave patterns, coated with a layer of bright lacquer, and after being sanded and polished to reveal the inlay pieces, colorful mother-of-pearl inlaid objects are created. Records of mother-of-pearl inlay date back to the Western Zhou period. But why did the ancients specifically choose seashells for decoration? This is mainly due to the 'currency' of ancient China—seashells. In today's Chinese characters, we find that many words related to money start with the character for 'shell,' such as 'wealth,' 'purchase,' 'goods,' and 'resources.' Inlaying seashells, which were used as currency, onto objects was actually a symbol of status and wealth. After the Shang and Zhou dynasties, as the form of currency gradually changed and various metals were used for coinage, the shape of shell currency was abandoned. At this point, when seashells were no longer recognized as a form of 'value' by society, mother-of-pearl inlay became a pure pursuit of beauty.