Styles Genres Museums Artists Support

An open visual arts database with 1,000,000+ artworks, 100,000+ artists, and 1,800+ styles spanning centuries of human creativity.

Browse

Styles
Genres
Museums
Artists
Favorites

Popular Styles

Impressionism
Romanticism
Surrealism
Pop Art
Cubism
Realism

Museums

Art Institute of Chicago
MoMA
Rijksmuseum
Cleveland Museum of Art
The MET
Louvre

VisualArtsDB is free and open for everyone.

Support the project

© 2026 VisualArtsDB

String of cowrie shells by Unknown — VisualArtsDB

Home
Money
String of cowrie shells

String of cowrie shells

String of cowrie shells

1800

Medium: shell , string (fiber product)
Genre: Money
Museum: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Styles

Tags

businessClothing and dressBeauty cultureslaveryTrans Atlantic slave trade

About

A string of cowrie shells. There are sixty (60) tan and yellow colored cowrie shells on a string composed of multiple natural-colored strands twisted together. The shells do not create a distinct pattern and they are oriented on the string in varying positions.

More by Unknown

Fragmentary Doll

Fragmentary Doll

Unknown, 275

Recreation Center, Key West, Florida, 1941-1942

Recreation Center, Key West, Florida, 1941-1942

Unknown, 1941

Saint John

Saint John

Unknown, 1767

The Idolatry of Apis

The Idolatry of Apis

Unknown, 1400

A Woman in Prayer and a Snake on a Nearby Hillock; A Man Trying to Kill a Snake with an Axe

A Woman in Prayer and a Snake on a Nearby Hillock; A Man Trying to Kill a Snake with an Axe

Unknown, 1450

Charity, Hospitals: Germany. Berlin. Grosse Heilanstalt der Charité: Grosse Heilanstalt der Charité in Berlin (Great Hospital of Charity, Berlin, Germany): Nose, Throat and Ear Clinic.

Charity, Hospitals: Germany. Berlin. Grosse Heilanstalt der Charité: Grosse Heilanstalt der Charité in Berlin (Great Hospital of Charity, Berlin, Germany): Nose, Throat and Ear Clinic.

Unknown, 1895

[Two Female Nudes]

[Two Female Nudes]

Unknown

[Portrait of a Seated Man]

[Portrait of a Seated Man]

Unknown, 1851

Set of Twelve Georgian Cheese Knives

Set of Twelve Georgian Cheese Knives

Unknown

Total Theater for Erwin Piscator, Berlin, 1927

Total Theater for Erwin Piscator, Berlin, 1927

Unknown, 1927

Head-dress of Awemba Girl

Head-dress of Awemba Girl

Unknown, 1910

Antefix with Woman's Head

Antefix with Woman's Head

Unknown, -499