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‘Kwab’ in Dutch and ‘auricular’ or ‘lobate’ in English – is a mys- terious and spooky ornament, a kind of rococo avant-la-lettre. It was invented and developed by a small number of Dutch sil- versmiths: Paulus van Vianen (working at the Court of Rudolf II in Prague), his brother Adam (goldsmith in Utrecht) and Johannes Lutma in Amster- dam. Their masterpieces were admired as high art, among others by Rembrandt and his pupils, who made drawings in the same style themselves. Ab- stract, soft, eerie shapes sug- gestive of monsters, masks and shells. The Dutch inventions had huge in uence in England, Germany and France.