each a crisply carved and water gilded scallop shell, below a serpentine fronted marble top The use and importance of the scallop shell in art and architecture throughout the ages is noteworthy. In particular, the use of the scallop shell on Irish furniture as a decorative and symbolic device: the scallop shell as a motif was very much favoured by Irish cabinetmakers and wood carvers. Like Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (1482 – 1485) – one of the most famous and loved paintings in the world – where the Roman goddess Venus is portrayed standing contrapposto on a scallop shell, it employment was inspired by the Ovid’s narrative poem `Metamorphoses’.