Meanings
- historicaluncountableartSynonym of auricular style.
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.
2018, Leticia Pinheiro Lima, Karolina Pallin, “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 21 more example
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.
1986, Hans Soop, The Power and the Glory: The Sculptures of the Warship Wasa, Almqvist och Witsell, →ISBN, page 63Synonyms: lobate style, Knorpelwerk, auricular style
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of auricular style.
Origin
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."
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
earshell work. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earshell%20work
“earshell work.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earshell%20work. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “earshell work,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earshell%20work.
Source: earshell work on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.