This dish by Clio Hinton Huneker depicts a mermaid in distress clinging to a lily with her lower body, engulfed in turbulent water. The use of organic imagery and the intertwined shapes of thrashing waves and contorted musculature link this with the Art Nouveau style that flourished in Europe and then America around the turn of the twentieth century. Art Nouveau designers had a penchant for eroticized female imagery, ranging from the provocative dances of Loie Fuller to the fascination with historical figures like Salomé. This dish may draw upon the popularity of Han Christian Andersen's dark fairytale "The Little Mermaid," which ends with the title character, Ariel, transforming into seafoam.