earshell work

Coined with reference to the flowing figures of the style, "in which undulating, slithery and boneless forms occasionally carry a suggestion of the inside of an ear or of a conch shell."[1]

earshell work (uncountable)

1. Auricular style; a 17th-century ornamental style characterized by softly flowing abstract shapes in relief, sometimes asymmetrical.

   Synonyms: lobate style, auricular style

   • 1986, Hans Soop, The Power and the Glory: The Sculptures of the Warship Wasa, Almqvist och Witsell, →ISBN:

     The earshell work is alternately sinewy and muscular, picturesque and doughy, which characterizes the development of this decorative style, in its early stages during the first decades of the seventeenth century and reveals the birth of the style.

   • 2018, “The whipstaff mascaron: symbolism and the making of space in a 17th century Swedish warship.”, in The Society for Maritime and Historical archaeology’s conference 2018‎, page 2:

     Seventeenth century Dutch and German Renaissance styles often feature grotesques, as well as what was then a new artistic element, earshell work, also known as auricular ornamentation or knorpelwerk in German.