Bronze Snail / Child Inkwell

This inkwell is a figural sculpture, cast in bronze. The central figure is a crawling child or baby, with arms extended and a curious expression on its face. The figure is transformed into a whimsical hybrid creature, a type of fantastical snail-like being. It has delicate, curved antennae extending from its head and a large, conch shell on its back. The shell is the functional part of the inkstand, with a hinged lid to open and close the inkwell. The combination of a human baby’s form with mollusk features is an example of the kind of imaginative and symbolic art popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly within the Art Nouveau movement.