The testimony taken before the Board of Appraisers revealed the fact
that each of the collections of pearls had been inclosed in a handsome
silk-lined morocco case, with a groove running through the center; in
this groove the pearls were laid, the largest one in the middle and the
others disposed on either side, graduated according to their size; the
row or series having the effect of a necklace, although the pearls were
unstrung. The importer testified that this arrangement was only made in
order to enable him to judge of the size and quality of the pearls, and
evidence was given showing that it was necessary to rebore some of them
and to ream out the holes before any use could be made of the pearls in
jewelry. Nevertheless, the appraisers adhered to their opinion that
these gems had been selected especially to form a necklace, and that the
time and labor requisite for the assembling of a carefully matched and
graduated series of pearls suitable for a necklace constituted the main
factor in its production, since the cost of stringing it was trifling;
they, therefore, considered that such a series of pearls was dutiable,
by similitude, under paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act as jewelry. An
application was made to the Circuit Court of the Southern District of
New York for a review of the appraisers’ ruling,[409] the judge decided
against the petitioner,[410] and an appeal was then taken from his
decision. On December 12, 1904, the Circuit Court of Appeals decided
that the pearls were dutiable, by similitude, at 10 per cent. ad
valorem, under Section 7, paragraph 436, and the excess of duty
collected was refunded.
Another case has to do with a collection of 37 pearls, entered at
$220,000, brought to New York in January, 1906. Duty to the amount of
$22,000 (10 per cent. ad valorem) was paid by the importer, but the
entry was liquidated at 60 per cent. and $110,000 additional duty
demanded. This was paid and a protest was made to the Board of General
Appraisers, who decided in favor of the petitioner. The Government
appealed and the case[411] was tried in the United States Circuit Court
on February 24 of this year (1908). It was shown that the pearls had
been worn several times in Paris as a necklace, but the defense held
that, as they were loose when imported and were not worth more
collectively than separately, this was not material. The judge decided
for the Government and an appeal has been taken in June, 1908.
[Illustration:
PERSIAN PRINCESS AND LADIES IN WAITING
From a Persian illuminated manuscript of the eighteenth century, in
the library of Robert Hoe, Esq.
]
The proper classification of half-pearls has also been a matter of
controversy. This question was brought before the Board of General
Appraisers in New York on a protest[412] entered in 1897 against the
imposition of a duty of 20 per cent. on several lots of so-called
half-pearls imported during that year. This duty was imposed under
Section 6 of the Tariff Act, providing for a duty of 20 per cent. on
“unenumerated partly manufactured articles.” The petitioner claimed that
half-pearls were dutiable at 10 per cent. ad valorem, “either directly
or by similitude or component of chief value, under paragraph 436, or as
precious stones, under paragraph 435 of the Tariff Act.” After hearing
the testimony of a number of competent and reliable experts connected
with some of the leading houses dealing in precious stones and pearls,
the appraisers decided that the evidence showed that pearls, being the
product of animal secretion, could not properly be denominated stones,
and that they were not in fact so designated commercially. At the same
time, half-pearls could not be looked upon as “pearls in their natural
state,” since time and labor had been expended in their production; it
was, therefore, evident that paragraph 436 did not apply to them. For
this reason the original ruling was reaffirmed.
In 1902 a duty of 60 per cent. was levied on an assorted lot of
half-pearls under a new ruling which brought them by similitude under
the provisions of paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act, providing a duty of
60 per cent. on “jewelry ... including ... pearls set or strung.” A
protest was entered against this ruling also.[413] In the meanwhile
Judge Lacombe had given the opinion to which we have alluded above, and
the Board of Appraisers upheld the duty of 60 per cent., basing their
decision upon the fact that the material of half-pearls was similar to
that of pearls in their natural state or of pearls set or strung, thus
satisfying the requirements as to similitude of Section 7 of the Tariff
Act. The same section provides that, in case two or more rates of duty
shall be applicable to any imported article, it shall pay duty at the
highest rate, and therefore the 60–per cent. rate applying to pearls set
or strung was imposed, instead of the 10–per cent. rate on pearls in
their natural state. In both of these cases an application for a review
was made to the United States Circuit Court.[414]
DUTIES ON PEARLS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES, MARCH, 1908
Amount in
money of the U. S.
Basis. country. currency.
Great Britain Free
British India Free
Australia Free
New Zealand Free
Canada, precious stones (pearls),
polished but not set, pierced, or
otherwise manufactured ad val. 10%
Austro-Hungary, unset 100
kilogr. 60 kr. $24.00
Belgium, unenumerated.
Bulgaria, precious stones (pearls) in
the natural state, polished, cut, or 75 lev
engraved, but not mounted kilogr. (francs) 14.25
Denmark, unenumerated.
France Free
Germany, wrought (smoothed, polished, 100
perforated), unset kilogr. 60 marks 14.40
Unset, but strung on textile threads
or tape for the purpose of packing 100
and transportation kilogr. 100 marks 24.00
Greece Free
Holland, unenumerated.
Italy, precious stones (pearls)
wrought hectogr. 14 lire 2.66
Montenegro, precious stones (pearls) {min. 10%
ad val. {max. 15%
Norway, precious stones (pearls) {min. 2^{50}
kilogr. krone .66
{max. 3
„ .80
Portugal, unenumerated.
Portuguese S. E. Africa (Quilimane,
Chinde and Zambesia) Export Duty ad val. 6%
Portuguese India, real pearls or
seed-pearls ad val. ½%
Rumania kilogr. 20 lei 3.80
Russia, loose or threaded funt 10 rubles 5.00
Finland Free
Servia, threaded for facilitating
their preservation or sale kilogr. 50 dinars 9.50
Threaded for special uses kilogr. 70 dinars 15.30
Spain, loose or mounted hectogr. 25 pesetas 4.75
Sweden, not set Free
Switzerland, not mounted 100
kilogr. 50 francs 9.75
Turkey, unset 3 piasters
gramme (gold)
Egypt (on all imports) ad val. 8%
China (on all unenumerated imports) ad val. 5%
Japan ad val. 60%
Persia, Export Duty ad val. 5%
Import Duty, precious stones, rough
or cut, including fine pearls ad val. 25%
Morocco (on all imports) ad val. 2½%
Guatemala, unenumerated.
Salvador, precious stones (pearls) 10 pesos,
unmounted kilogr. nom. val. 9.60
Nicaragua, precious stones (pearls) 100 pesos,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
Honduras 5 pesos,
½ kilogr. „ „ 4.80
Costa Rica, unset 100 colones,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
Panama ad val. 15%
Mexico, unset 100 pesos,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
United States, not strung, not set ad val. 10%
Strung, set, or not, and split
pearls sorted as to either size,
quality, or shape ad val. 60%
Philippine, unset ad val. 15%
Argentine Republic, precious stones
(pearls) ad val. 5%
Bolivia appraisal 3%
Brazil (natural) ad val. 2%
Chili ad val. 5%
Colombia, precious stones (pearls) set
in jewelry ad val. 10%
Ecuador, precious stones (pearls), set 50 sucres,
or not set kilogr. nom. val. 48.00
Paraguay, unset ad val. 2%
Peru, unset appraisal 3%
Uruguay 13% on eval
gramme of 1 peso .12
Venezuela kilogr. 10 bolivars 1.90
Cuba, not set hectogr. $7.50
surtax of 25%
Dominican Republic 6 pesos,
ounce nom. val. 5.76
The only changes from the customs lists as they existed in the tariffs
of 1896 are as follows:
1896 1908
Portugal 3% ad val. unenumerated
Mexico 50 pesos per carat 100 pesos per kilogram
Nicaragua 5 pesos per libra 100 pesos per kilogram
Haiti 20% ad val. unenumerated
San Domingo 3.60 pesos per ounce 6 pesos per ounce
Argentina 36 pesos per gram precious stones 5% ad val.
Austro-Hungary 24 florins per 100 kilogr. 60 kroner per 100 kilogr.
In the Parliament of 1727–1732, the duty on pearls and precious stones
was abolished in England. We give facsimiles of the title-page and last
leaf of the report of this enactment.
[Illustration:
Anno Regni
_GEORGII_ II.
REGIS
_Magnæ_, _Britanniæ_, _Franciæ_, & _Hiberniæ_,
SEXTO.
At the Parliament Begun and Holden at _Westminster_, the Twenty third
Day of _January, Anno Dom. 1727_. In the First Year of the Reign of
our Sovereign Lord __GEORGE__ the Second, by the Grace of God, of
_Great Britain_, _France_, and _Ireland_, King, Defender of the
Faith, &_c._
And from thence continued by several Prorogations to the Sixteenth Day
of _January_, 1732, being the Sixth Session of this present
Parliament.
_LONDON_,
Printed by _John Baskett_, Printer to the King’s most
Excellent Majesty. 1732.
108 Anno Regni Sexto Georgii II. Regis.
[Sidenote: After _10 April, 1733_, Diamonds and all other precious
Stones may be imported or exported free from Duty.]
Diamonds, precious Stones, Jewels, and Pearls of all Sorts, shall pass
outwards, without Warrant or Fee, may it therefore please your most
Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be enacted by the King’s
most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the Authority of the Same, That from and after the
Tenth Day of April, which shall be in the Year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and Thirty three, all Diamonds, Pearls, Rubies, Emeralds,
and all other precious Stones and Jewels, shall pass inwards without
Warrant or Fee, in the Manner as they now pass outwards, and free from
the Payment of any Duty granted to his Majesty, his Heirs, or
Successors; and it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons to
import or export the same, in the Ship or Vessel whatsoever; and Law,
Custom, or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, subject
nevertheless to the Proviso herein after contained.
[Sidenote: Proviso as to the _East India_ Company.]
Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend to annul or
make void the Duty granted to his Majesty for the Use of the united
Company of Merchants of =England= trading to the =East Indies=, by an
act passed in the Ninth and Tenth Years of the Reign of his late Majesty
King =William= the Third, for such Pearls, Diamonds, and other precious
Stones or Jewels, as shall be imported into this kingdom from any Place
within the Limits of the Charter granted to the said Company, or to take
away or alter any Privileges, Profits, or Advantages, granted to or now
held or enjoyed by the said Company.
FINIS.
]
The total value of diamonds and precious stones imported into the United
States during the period from 1867 to 1906 inclusive, was as follows:
Glaziers’ (except 1873–83) $2,215,972
Dust 6,407,599
Rough or uncut (included with diamonds and other stones,
1891–96) 74,045,291
Set (not specified before 1897) 36,170
Unset (not specified before 1897) 124,615,662
Diamonds and other stones, not set 207,138,629
Set in gold or other metal 17,799
Pearls (from 1903) 7,809,261
————————————
Total $422,286,383
CLASSIFIED STATEMENT OF THE IMPORTS OF PEARLS INTO THE UNITED STATES
FROM 1891 TO 1907 INCLUSIVE
Pearls Pearls, Pearls in Pearls split
including pearls natural state, etc.
strung but not not strung or
set set
Year 10% 10% 10% 20%
1891 $11,711
1892 32,023
1893 6,926
1894 12,978
1895 $283,018
1896 583,214
1897 392,867
1898 $491,060 $205,998
1899 1,412,952 389,899
1900 1,163,382 432,528
1901 929,247 1,173,339
1902 1,896,322 1,314,368
1903 2,835,936 7,220
1904 1,680,615 2,908
1905 1,626,476
1906 2,072,561 218
1907 1,593,498
——————— —————————— ——————————— ——————————
$63,638 $1,259,099 $15,702,049 $3,526,478
NOTE. Previous to 1891 pearls were classified with “jewelry and
precious stones,” and it was not until 1895 that most of them were
reported separately.
There are several things that are essential in pearl buying, and one of
the most important of these is that the light in which the pearls are
selected shall be absolutely pure daylight, with no reflections from the
side or from above that can enhance or detract from the color of the
pearl. This must be carefully considered, as it is not uncommon—more
especially in certain parts of Europe—that jewelers have for their
selling-offices rooms sumptuously fitted up with hangings of different
colors, and sometimes with ground glass windows, provided with heavy
silk hangings, so that artificial light becomes a necessity to make the
article sold plainly visible. In absolutely pure daylight, more
especially with an unclouded sky—on such days as are probably more
frequent in the United States than in some of the European countries—it
is possible to see the exact tint or color of the pearls; that is,
whether it is really a pure white with a tinge of pink or an orient
tending to cream-white, or whether it is more or less tinted with what
is considered a crude or red color in a pearl. Besides this, in a pure
light it is possible to see whether the pearl is brilliant, and to
estimate the exact degree of its brilliancy; whether there are any
cracks, scratches, or mars on the surface; and, lastly, whether the form
is entirely regular. If one should select two necklaces, one absolutely
perfect and the other having slight blemishes as to color or brilliancy,
or with breaks, marks, or irregularities, these two necklaces would be
scarcely distinguishable from each other in artificial light, or in
daylight which had been partly confused with artificial light; although
the differences between the two would signify that the former was worth
two or three times as much as the latter.
At great receptions, large, and apparently magnificent pearls are
frequently seen, which are really of inferior quality, and yet, owing to
the absence of pure daylight, they can easily be mistaken for perfect
specimens by any one not especially familiar with pearls. Indeed, if the
royalties of Europe should wear all the pearls belonging to the crown
jewels at the same time, in a palace or hall lighted with candles, gas,
or even with some types of electric light, they would frequently seem to
have a quality which many of them do not and never did possess. It is,
therefore, essential for the buyer to use every precaution in reference
to the light in which he examines his purchase. And we may add that it
is just as essential that he should know the dealer from whom he buys;
for, sometimes, after a few weeks or months, cracks or blemishes develop
that were not apparent at first, more especially when the pearls have
been “improved” for a prospective purchaser.
A test to ascertain the quality of pearls is quaintly expressed in a
work published in 1778, as follows:
How to know good pearls. To discover the hidden Defects and Faults
of a Pearl and to know whether she is speckled or broken or has any
other imperfections, the best way is to make trial of it by the
Reverberation of the Sun-beams; for by this means your eye will
penetrate into the very Centre of the Pearl and discover the least
defect it has; you will then see whether it be pure, or has any
spots or not, and consequently you may the better guess its
value.[415]
If you can cause a ray of sunlight or of electric light to fall on a
pearl, the light will penetrate it and show any specks, inclosed
blemishes or impurities. This can probably best be done by wrapping
about the pearl a dark cloth of velvet or other material and having the
ray fall slantingly, whereby the defects are much more clearly shown
than if the ray be allowed to fall directly upon the gem.
A pearl necklace valued at $200,000, shown at one of our recent great
expositions, was to all appearances a remarkably beautiful collection,
and it was only when the intending purchaser took them from their velvet
bed and held them in his hands that he realized that there was not a
perfect pearl in the entire collection. It must have taken more than a
week of study for the clever dealer to arrange them so that the best
part, sometimes the only good part of each pearl, should be where the
eye would fall upon it. After they had been turned in the hands a few
seconds, not one perfect specimen was visible.
The demand for pearls has been so great, and the enhancement of value so
rapid, that the greatest ingenuity has been employed in presenting the
best part of the gems to view, as well as in many other ways. The result
is that when pearls are to be used as borders or as a gallery on a comb
or brooch, they are pierced in such a way that only the best side shall
be outward, so that the general effect produced is that of a perfect row
of pearls; but a careful examination may show that two thirds or three
fourths of them are irregular, and bear abrasion marks, indentations, or
other imperfections.
Following the analogy of the well-known precious stones—the diamond, the
ruby, the sapphire, the emerald and those of less importance—the pearl
is equally potent in creating great and permanent values for itself in
catering to the human love of adornment; and though these large values
may be greatly in excess of the original price that it commanded in the
native oriental market, yet the increased valuation gives profitable
livelihood to hundreds of thousands of persons. These embrace the
dealers who sell the original pearls in lots, those who clean and treat
them, others who drill and string them, and others again who handle them
in setting jewelry of all kinds, and also the large number of dealers
throughout the entire world who sell either the jewelry or the unmounted
pearls. Directly connected with the industry in localities where the
fisheries are pursued are a sufficient number of persons to populate a
city the size of Boston, and to these we may safely add an equal number
as herein noted, aggregating about 1,000,000 people whose livelihood is
directly dependent upon the production and traffic of the pearl
industry, and who for lack of it would be forced to seek some other
employment. Brought thus to a concrete form, one may readily grasp the
important bearing which the pearl has in a comprehensive estimate of the
complexity of the world’s civilization as we know it to-day.
XIV
TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS
XIV
TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS
The pearl is at the height of its perfection when taken from the shell;
from that moment it never improves. When it is drawn from the depths of
the ocean by the hand of man and given to the charmed gaze of the world,
it is as complete and perfect in its way as the most beautiful work of
art, and, whether as tiny as the point of a pin or as large as a marble,
it is always a perfect, fully formed individual; it is always in its
maturity.
Who found the first pearl? When did he discover it, and what were his
emotions? Was it found by primitive man? Very likely it was discovered
by chance in a mother-of-pearl shell cast up by the sea, or perhaps in a
mussel in a brook. If this happened in an oriental country, the native
must have already seen many equally remarkable objects, endowed with
life, while the pearl could charm him only by its luster and purity.
But, besides the impression produced by its beauty, it must have aroused
in the soul of the discoverer the sensation of wonder which every new
and lovely object excites when seen for the first time. That primitive
man appreciated the pearl is evidenced by the fact that it is found in
the mounds and graves of the American continent, from the State of Ohio
to Peru in South America.
Almost all pearls are in perfect condition for setting when they are
found; all that needs to be done is to rub them with a damp or moist
cloth or with a powder of finely pulverized small or broken pearls, and
they are then ready for the succeeding processes. If there are any
blemishes, these can be removed by peeling or “faking,” although few
fine pearls require any such treatment; and then the gems may be
drilled, strung, and set, and all that is necessary for their
preservation is due care and attention.
Pearls are frequently injured in opening the shells or in removal of the
outer layers around the true pearly nacre. Both the Chinese and the Sulu
fishermen are very clever in the art of pearl peeling and pearl
improving. This method is called “faking,” although it is a perfectly
legitimate operation. All it requires is a very sharp knife, a set of
files, and a powder obtained by grinding pearls or pearl shells. This
powder is placed upon a buffer of leather or cloth to polish such parts
of a layer as may not have been entirely removed. The Chinese are
unusual adepts in pearl peeling and have been frequently known to sell
as true pearls scales that they have removed, after filling these scales
or peelings with wax or shellac, and strengthening them by cementing
them on a piece of mother-of-pearl. They are then set with the convex
side up and the edges carefully covered so as to conceal the deception.
The Chinese are also very expert in removing layers of mother-of-pearl
from an encysted or buried pearl, taking off layer after layer with the
greatest care, and with a delicacy of touch that enables them to realize
the moment when the pearl itself has been reached, rarely injuring the
latter, although the coating is almost as hard as the inclosed pearl.
Peeling is employed to remove a protuberance or acid stain, to smooth a
surface broken by abrasion, or to take off a dead spot produced by
careless wearing of the pearls and allowing them to rub against one
another. There are many instances where, by careful peeling, a perfect
layer and skin have been brought to light, and where irregular or broken
pearls, or those with a blemish, have been rendered much more valuable
by a good peeler. But in many other cases the pearl has not only been
reduced in value, but even rendered altogether worthless, when it had a
dead center or was pitted with clay or other impurities.
If a pearl has been injured by coming in contact with the acids
frequently used in medicine, the surface may become roughened; or it may
be scratched by being rubbed against a stone in case of a fall or other
accident. If the surface only is injured, it can be restored to its
original beauty with only a slight loss of weight by carefully peeling
off the outer layers.
In skinning or peeling a pearl, a magnifying glass, or preferably a
fixed lens, such as is used by engravers, is of great assistance, and a
sharp knife, or, better still, the sharpened edge of a steel file, is a
very essential instrument. Gloves are often worn by the peeler so that
no perspiration shall reach the pearl and cause it to slip in the hand
while it is being manipulated, and thus have a layer or more injured by
the knife.
[Illustration:
Drilling a pearl by means of the bow-drill
]
[Illustration:
Thin layers of pearl removed by peeling (faking)
]
[Illustration:
Examples of properly and poorly drilled pearls
]
[Illustration:
Side view of same pearls
]
PEARL DRILLING
Streeter mentions a very interesting incident in regard to a genuine
black pearl. This pearl, set with diamonds, was shown in a jeweler’s
window; but after exposure in this way for some time to the sun’s rays,
the brilliant black luster disappeared and gave place to a dull, grayish
hue. When the pearl was removed from its setting, it was seen that the
part which had not been exposed to the light was of as good color as
when first removed from the shell. It was finally determined to skin off
the outer layer, an operation which was performed with so much success
that the original brilliant black hue was fully restored, proving that
the action of the sunlight had only changed the color of the surface. We
may add that the pearl, although it was shown in the sun, may never have
had a good “skin” or layer exposed; or the layer which was not perfect
may have been affected by an exudation of the wearer produced by illness
or medicine.
When pearls are of a poor yellow or dull brown tint, unscrupulous
dealers sometimes intrust them to an operator who drills them almost
entirely through, cracks the skin slightly and impregnates them with a
solution of nitrate of silver; this affects the outer layers of the
pearls, and, after its decomposition, the metallic silver is deposited,
and they become absolutely black. The effect is sometimes hastened by
exposing them to the fumes of nitrate of silver. These pearls are then
rubbed up or slightly polished and may retain a good appearance for a
number of years. The upper layers, however, which have been injured by
the chemicals used in the coloring, often scale off, and the poor and
unattractive color beneath appears. This is sometimes not detected until
years after and when the dealer from whom they were purchased has been
forgotten. The breaks or cracks which have been made can readily be
detected by means of a pocket lens, if the observer is at all
experienced. In many cases the outer layer of the pearl has been colored
a good black, although scarcely any crack is visible.
Frequently, when a small knob or protuberance appears in the pearl, or
when it has adhered to another pearl or to the shell itself, this
protuberance is polished off, and the pearl is drilled at this point.
This portion of the surface, however carefully polished, will never have
the true orient, but it is placed in the necklace in such a way that it
is completely hidden. Often pearls become scratched through rough usage,
or by the knife used in opening the shells. These are occasionally
polished by means of pearl-powder, or else the entire outer layer is
removed, the new skin beneath appearing absolutely bright and perfect.
It sometimes happens that a pearl will have a good luster, but a
slightly roughened skin. This is at times polished down; but an
experienced eye easily detects that it has been tampered with. Yellowish
pearls are sometimes bleached by means of strong bleaching substances
such as chlorine or other powerful reagents, which, although they may
whiten the pearl, cause it to become very friable, as the animal
substance becomes more brittle. Pearls treated in this way frequently
wear off, layer by layer, until fully one half of the pearl is worn out
of the setting. When pearls are stained yellowish from the exudations of
the skin, grease, or other impurities, they can be cleaned by putting
them in moist caustic magnesia and allowing it to dry on them. When this
is removed, the pearls will often be found much purer in color than
before.
In various parts of the world certain dubious methods have been used for
restoring the beauty of pearls which have grown dim. In India they are
rubbed in boiled rice. Some persons have even fed them to a chicken
fastened in a coop; after the lapse of an hour or two the chicken is
killed, and the pearls rescued from their temporary lodging-place, where
they have been somewhat restored by the digestive juices of the fowl.
Some curious tests applied to pearls are given us in a Hindu treatise on
gems by Buddhabhatta. For instance, we read: “If the purchaser conceives
a doubt as to the genuineness of a pearl, let him place it during one
night in a mixture of water and oil with salt, and heat it. Or let him
wrap it in a dry cloth and rub it with grains of rice; if it do not
become discolored, it should be regarded as genuine.”[416] It is
needless to state that these tests would be either useless or injurious.
If the reader is the owner of a pearl or of a pearl necklace and feels
that the pearls need treatment, any attempt to follow the directions
given by many ancient writers would infallibly result in their injury or
destruction.
Pearl drilling is a most delicate operation. It is necessary that the
drill points should have the proper shape,—that is, should not be too
tapering, but slightly blunt at the end, and turning somewhat in a
V-shape,—it is also important that the drill should be revolved with
perfect regularity, so as not to jar or jolt the pearl, as this is
likely to lead to the cracking of the pearl or to the breaking of the
drill. This latter happens not infrequently, and is due either to the
structure of the pearl, the clogging of the drill, or to encountering a
hard grain of sand inclosed in the pearl. Should the drill break in the
pearl, it can best be removed by drilling from a point directly
opposite, and slowly forcing the broken drill outward. This process
requires great care in the regulation of the speed, and great exactness
of direction in order to meet the broken drill accurately.
Pearl drilling was formerly a laborious process, and it was scarcely
possible for a driller to perforate more than from forty to fifty pearls
per day by means of the bow-drill operated by hand. Now, by the use of a
modern machine, 1500 pearls of average size can be drilled without any
difficulty in the same time.
Some of the most successful drilling of fine pearls is done by means of
the bow- or fiddle-drill. The arm of this is made either of steel or of
wood, with a strong cord stretched across it in the style of an archer’s
bow. The drill is inserted in the end of a brass circular disk with a
V-shaped groove on its edge, to admit of the string being passed
entirely around it like a pulley, so that when the drill is placed on
anything and held at the other side, and the bow is moved up and down,
the wheel with the drill-end rotates rapidly.
If the pearl is not properly secured, if the drill point is too
irregular, if it is not properly centered, or if it is too rapidly
rotated at the start, one or more layers of the pearl are likely to be
broken, giving an irregular, ragged appearance. If, again, the drill is
rotated too rapidly as it is leaving the other side of the pearl, one or
more layers are occasionally forced off, and this in turn will produce a
break on the pearl. It happens not infrequently that pearls are broken
away on the surfaces at both drill holes if the workman is careless.
As pearls have become more valuable, only the most efficient workmen are
employed in drilling them. Whereas formerly a drill hole would be half a
millimeter in diameter, at present it is much smaller, and such drilling
requires the greatest skill in manipulation. The use of these very fine
drill holes is due principally to the fact that pearls have become so
valuable that the slightest loss, even the fraction of a grain, would
amount to a considerable sum in a necklace of large pearls.
When a pearl has been perforated with a very fine drill hole, the hole
may be enlarged somewhat by using a slender copper wire, the fineness of
the drill hole itself, charged with either diamond-dust, emery, or sand.
When the wire thus charged is drawn in and out, the drill hole can be
enlarged to any desired size.
A large pearl is held in the hand or secured in a wooden block, or else
it is held in a small pair of forceps with a rounded, cup-shaped
receptacle at the end, which is usually lined with chamois leather and
is pierced with a hole through the center. This hole serves as a guide
for the drill, directing it while the pearl is being perforated.
Adjustable cups or forceps with cup-like ends of every size are
necessary, according to the size of the pearl; and in order that it may
be properly seen, it is requisite that the pearl should always be larger
than the cup in which it is placed.
The poorest part or spot is selected to form the beginning of the drill
hole. The pearl is placed in a pair of calipers with a circular disk,
one end of the caliper being placed on the spot to be pierced, the other
end naturally touching exactly opposite, the pearl absolutely centering
it. As these caliper ends have been rubbed with either rouge, lampblack,
or some colored substance that will readily rub off, these two spots of
color remain on the pearl and serve as a guide for the driller. The
drill end is then placed on the pearl, and the bow moved up and down;
and so rapid is this work that five pearls weighing fifteen grains each
can be drilled with the greatest care in less than one hour’s time. Of
small pearls, weighing about one grain, as many as fifty have been
drilled in less than one hour by the hand-drill method.
Many of the thinnest and best drills are made out of thin steel needles.
These are ground flat by means of a small carborundum wheel, so as to
have two flat sides. They are then thin pointed, and with a V-shaped
edge. These prevent the drill from clogging up, allowing the fine dust
to pass upward and outward readily, and the hard steel almost invariably
penetrates the central core of the pearl, no matter how hard or tough
this may be. The needle-drill is then secured in a small chuck attached
to the brass revolving wheel. Some recommend lubricating a drill with
milk when it is employed for piercing a pearl, but a well-made drill,
that allows the dust to escape as it is formed, does not require this
treatment. The drill should always be made to revolve quite slowly so
that no unnecessary heat may be generated by friction to injure the
color of the pearl and also to avoid the possibility of the drill
becoming clogged by the pearl-dust.
By means of centering calipers or markers, the driller, especially in
the drilling of a large pearl, will generally drill first from one end,
and then reverse the pearl and drill from the other end, meeting
absolutely in the center. This prevents the breaking of the outer layer
of the pearl. A skilful workman can, by turning the pearl, so operate
the calipers that the true center can be obtained, even if the pearl is
not absolutely round, and the drill holes so centered that the
irregularity of the pearl is less apparent.
When the pearl has been half drilled through from one side, considerable
caution is necessary in drilling from the other, that when the two drill
holes are about meeting the drill be not revolved too rapidly, as the
clogging is likely to crack the pearl or break the drill. If the pearl
is only to be drilled one fourth or one half through, the depth can
always be gaged by watching the drill-end, first, by measuring the
drill-end itself, and, secondly, by noting to what part of it
pearl-powder adheres.
Pearls are more easily manipulated than any other gems. They are also
more easily damaged. Still, when properly treated by the workman, there
is no material that offers him more satisfactory results than the pearl,
if good judgment be used.
Drillers occasionally find that when the drill reaches the center of the
pearl, there is a sharp click, the pearl often breaking at this point.
This is evidently due to the fact that a harder kernel may exist in the
center, such as a tiny grain of sand, which can turn the drill point; or
else the resistance may cause the tiny drill to break.
When a pearl is cracked by a blow or by some accident, it is customary
to drill it at the end of the largest crack; this method prevents the
crack from extending in that direction. These fissures are sometimes
partly filled by means of a solution, and may not be visible at the time
when the pearl is bought, but they are liable to appear later.
To illustrate the difference in the care used in drilling, we have
selected eight pearls from a paper of poor ones, and reproduce two views
of them, one to show the irregularity of the pearls, and the other to
show the varying size of the drill holes. Those on the left were drilled
by an artist, while those on the right show the work of an inexperienced
driller.
At present pendant pearls are never drilled entirely through, and rarely
more than half way. But in the Orient, and even in Europe from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century, they were often entirely pierced;
even pear-shaped pearls were entirely drilled through, with a metal edge
projected below for safety. Frequently old pearls, and more especially
oriental pearls, have been entirely drilled through, as are often large
oriental rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. When these are set, the holes
are either plugged with pearl shell and polished smooth, or a tiny ruby
or diamond is set in a metal rim fitting entirely into the drill hole or
only slightly projecting. This is well instanced in the portrait of
Marguerite of France (1553–1615), in which the artist Delpech shows all
the pear-shaped pearls worn by the French queen entirely pierced.
Frequently, where pearls have been drilled by oriental workmen, the
drill holes are exceedingly large, five or six times the width of the
silk string; in fact often from one to two millimeters in diameter. In
the search to supply the great demand, many oriental pearls have been
secured which formerly were strung to an oriental jewel by means of a
thick wire; it is necessary to close this aperture, as the pearl would
lie unevenly on the string. This is done by introducing a
mother-of-pearl plug, through which a new drill hole is made. Unless the
pearls are unstrung, this is rarely visible; but not infrequently the
plug drops out. In other cases the pearl has been drilled not only from
end to end, but also from the side, and this third hole is filled with a
plug of mother-of-pearl and polished over so as to hide the blemish from
the buyer. It is also no uncommon thing for a purchaser to find, after a
year, that cracks begin to develop where none apparently existed at the
time of his purchase, or they were so minute as to be considered of no
consequence.
One of the earliest references to drilling pearls was made by Rugerus, a
monk who lived in the eleventh century. He says:
Pearls are found in the sea-shell and shells of other waters; these
are perforated with a fine steeled instrument which is fixed in
wood, having a small wheel of lead, also another wood in which it
may be turned, to which a strap must be placed by which it may be
revolved. But should it be necessary that the aperture of any pearl
be made larger, a wire may be placed in the opening with a little
fine sand, one end of which may be held in the teeth, the other in
the left hand, and by the right the pearl is conducted upwards and
downwards, and in the meantime sand is applied, that the apertures
may become wider. Sea-shells are also cut into pieces and are filed
as pearls, sufficiently useful upon gold, and they are polished as
above.[417]
In “The Toy Cart,” a Hindu drama by Sudrake, who lived about the
beginning of the Christian era, there is a description of a jeweler’s
workshop attached to the house of a courtezan. He says: “Some set rubies
in gold, some string gold beads on colored thread, some string pearls,
some grind lapis lazuli, some cut shells and some grind and pierce
coral.”[418]
The Chinese and Korean method of drilling pearls differs materially from
that of the Occident. A pear-shaped pearl is frequently drilled
horizontally and secured by wire or silk, and not drilled
perpendicularly, as with us, to have a metal wire or peg fastened into
it. If the orientals drill a pearl perpendicularly, the hole is
generally carried entirely through it, and a gold knot, which is used as
a bead, is placed at the lower end, and sometimes a tiny gem is set in
this peg, or else the pearl is secured either by some projection below,
or by means of a bit of enamel, or some other object may be attached to
the gold or wire below it. Button pearls, especially those of the
abalone, are drilled horizontally through the base and secured to the
ornament, or to the silk or other material on which they are sewed, by
means of a thread or wire; or else they may be drilled from below by
means of two sloping holes forming a V, the thread or wire being passed
upward until it strikes the angle, and then passed outward again through
the other branch of the hole. Many fine, round, and pear-shaped pearls
of oriental origin may be seen with this end closed either with a speck
of pearl, a diamond, or a ruby.
A most interesting and careful description of the methods of drilling
pearls was given by James Cordiner in his valuable volume, “A
Description of Ceylon,” published in London in 1807, pages 64–66.
[Illustration:
Scraping ends of silk threads for stringing pearl necklace
]
[Illustration:
Stringing a pearl collar in sections; cleaning and reaming out a pearl
]
[Illustration:
Sliding a pearl along the string in pearl stringing
]
[Illustration:
Tying a knot between pearls in pearl stringing
]
PEARL STRINGING
The next operation which claims attention is the drilling of the
pearls. I neglected to inspect this part of the business; but have
been informed that much admiration is excited, both by the dexterity
of the artist, and the rude simplicity of the machinery which he
employs. A block of wood, of the form of an inverted cone, is raised
upon three feet about twelve inches from the ground. Small holes or
pits of various sizes are cut in the upper flat surface, for the
reception of the pearls. The driller sits on his haunches close to
this machine, which is called a vadeagrum. The pearls are driven
steady into their sockets by a piece of iron with flat sides, about
one inch and a half in length. A well tempered needle is fixed in a
reed five inches long, with an iron point at the other end, formed
to play in the socket of a cocoanut shell, which presses on the
forehead of the driller. A bow is formed of a piece of bamboo and a
string. The workman brings his right knee in a line with the
vadeagrum, and places on it a small cup, formed of part of a
cocoanut shell, which is filled with water to moderate the heat of
friction. He bends his head over the machine, and applying the point
of the needle to a pearl sunk in one of the pits, drills with great
facility, every now and then dexterously dipping the little finger
of his right hand in the water, and applying it to the needle,
without impeding the operation. In this manner he bores a pearl in
the space of two or three minutes; and in the course of a day
perforates three hundred small or six hundred large pearls. The
needle is frequently sharpened with oil on a stone slab, and
sometimes, before the operation is performed, is heated in the flame
of a lamp.
The large pearls are generally drilled first, in order to bring the
hand in to work with more ease on those of a smaller size; and
pearls less than a grain of mustard-seed are pierced with little
difficulty.
After the pearls have been drilled, they must be immediately washed
in salt and water, to prevent the stains which would otherwise be
occasioned by the perforating instrument.
A quaint description of pearl drilling was given by Anselmus de Boot in
1609.[419]
Since all are not aware of the manner in which pearls are
perforated, I wish here to give an account of the method. The
handle. A, is held with the left hand, and then the handle, B, of
the bow is pushed back and forth with the right hand, so that there
is a reciprocal movement of the lance AC. The extreme end, C, has a
needle, not so sharp as to come to a point, but slightly blunted.
The needle is placed on the pearl which is to be perforated. If the
pearls are too small to be held, they are fastened in the case, D,
with a small hammer of soft wood, lest they should slip. The board
is inclosed on every side by strips of wood so that the water which
comes from the pearls shall not flow off. The bow being moved, the
needle penetrates and pierces the pearl and it is not corroded by
the water.
A mythical story, but a pleasant one, is told of a great pearl collector
who had owned a wonderful pear-shaped pearl for many years and had
absolutely failed to find any match for it. After years of fruitless
search he was at last rewarded by finding an absolutely perfect mate. He
took this to his favorite jeweler in one of the great capitals of
Europe, and ordered the new gem to be pierced to match the other so that
both could be set. The jeweler called a small German boy from an
adjoining workshop, simply saying, “Jakey, drill this pearl to match the
other.” The collector was dumfounded that no caution should be given to
the boy when so important a piece of work was intrusted to his care.
Scarcely had the boy left the room when the collector inquired of the
jeweler, almost in consternation, “How can you trust so valuable a pearl
to so small a boy without a word of caution?” To this the dealer
replied: “Jakey is the most careful pearl driller I have ever known. I
know that there will be no failure in the drilling. I have never
cautioned him about such work. He never has drilled a pearl wrong. Had I
warned him of the value of the gem or told him how important a piece of
work he was doing, he probably would have become nervous and, as a
result, your pearl would have been cracked.” The conversation had
scarcely been completed before Jakey returned with the pearl as
beautifully drilled as the original one which it matched.
In the Orient and elsewhere, when it is considered desirable to mount a
pearl so that it shall not turn, especially when only one part of the
pearl is perfect and that is to remain outside, the drill hole is
sometimes made square, that is to say, drilled round and then reamed out
with a small saw until it becomes square, when a square wire is
inserted; or else the pearl is first drilled with a tiny round hole and
this is then reamed out until it is triangular, when a triangular wire
is introduced. This method is sometimes used for studs or ring-settings.
In setting pearls with points or claws on the wire or band of a ring,
the pearls are drilled only half way through. A gold pin is then
inserted, and sometimes a thread is cut into the pearl itself; it is
secured by means of gum mastic or some other strong gum. Occasionally,
to add greater strength, a side pin is put in, so that the pearl is
drilled with two bits of metal, which penetrate the one side in a
perfectly straight line and the other at an angle of about twenty-five
or thirty degrees (this is called side-pegging). This gives more
strength and firmness to the pearl itself, and prevents it from twisting
or twining and becoming loose. Sometimes the pearl hole is drilled so
that the opening is that of a screw-thread, in order to hold it to the
earring, the stud, or the ring. The gold pin which is inserted to attach
the pearl to the ring or stud has a screw-thread also, and the peg or
pin is screwed on as well as secured.
An ingenious method, termed “keying,” for securing the peg in pearls to
be set on rings or studs, consists in drilling a hole half through the
pearl and then two smaller holes or grooves on each side of the first.
Cutting tools of a T-shape are now introduced into the aperture and
worked about until the pearl is undercut all around, so that when a peg
with a cross-piece is inserted, the latter can be turned within the
pearl until it sets at right angles with the widest part of the
aperture. In this way the peg is permanently secured and cannot slip
out.
The fact that in recent years more pearls have appeared in necklaces
that are irregularly bored, that the bore holes are so large that they
are plugged with mother-of-pearl, or that one meets with pearls in which
a plug has been placed in the side immediately in the center between the
two drill holes, is due to the fact that the great demand has resulted
in the destruction of many oriental ornaments in which the pearls were
drilled in various ways, as well as in the destruction of the different
Magyar and other semi-official jewels of eastern Europe.
The most primitive known drills were the flint drills, made by the North
American Indians by chipping chert or flint-like minerals to a fine
point. With these rude instruments a large, irregular hole was made,
which generally measured several times the diameter of the fine drill
hole made by a modern pearl driller with an improved drill. The Indians
are also said to have used hot copper drills for boring holes.
The earliest, and still a very general and perhaps the best way of
drilling pearls, is by means of the bow- or fiddle-drill. This method
has been used in a more or less perfected form by all the aboriginal
peoples of the New World from Iceland to Tierra del Fuego. But as none
of these peoples were familiar with fine, hard steel, they scarcely ever
succeeded in making drill holes as fine as those that can be produced by
the use of tempered steel. By the latter means, pearls half an inch in
diameter are often drilled entirely through with an aperture no larger
than a thin bit of straw.
The largest and finest pearls are frequently drilled with the smallest
holes, as the slightest loss in weight means a diminution in value.
Then, too, a pearl with a small drill hole is not so liable to shift on
the string, and thus is less likely to cut the silk thread which holds
the pearls together.
It would be difficult to enumerate all the tricks to which some jewelers
now resort in order to utilize every fragment of a pearl they can lay
their hands on. Some of them are wonderfully clever at reconstruction,
but to the woman who loves pearls, nothing can take the place of the
soft, beautiful, round gem, with its natural surface.
In sorting pearls for the smaller necklaces, it is customary to open up
a number of dozen bunches of the East Indian pearls as they are sent
from the East, strung, the ends fastened together in bunches, and then
sealed. These pearls are placed on a table and are first arranged
according to color and luster on the sorting board. They are then
grouped according to size and graduation, the greatest care being
exercised in the selection for color, luster, and form. In this way ten
necklaces may be re-strung into ten others, the necklaces probably being
improved as regards selection, or else better arranged for the uses to
which the jeweler wishes to put them.
In the case of the larger necklaces, it frequently requires many years
of selection and arrangement before one becomes perfect enough to pass
the criticism or suit the fancy of the jeweler.
We have no record as to when the first pearl necklace was strung, nor
have we a definite record of the first use of silk for stringing a
necklace. The earliest illustration that we have been able to obtain of
the use of pearls in the form of a necklace is the one from Susa, in
which the pearls were secured with gold. A Syrian necklace, dating about
one or two centuries before Christ, was strung by means of a bronze
wire. We will endeavor to give a few facts on the interesting process of
preparing pearls for wearing.
Pearl stringing is an art, easy as the process may seem, and it is
interesting to note the precision, care, and delicacy with which the
pearl stringer performs his task. The first step is to grade the pearls
according to their size and color, so that they may produce the best
possible effect. The largest and finest pearl is placed in the center;
alongside of this, on each side, are laid the two pearls next in size
which are the most nearly alike in form and hue; and so on to the end of
the necklace. This grouping requires both experience and judgment, and
is of great importance, since the value of the pearls is often
considerably enhanced by a proper arrangement. A skilful stringer is
able to grade them so cleverly that only a trifling difference will be
found in the weight of the two halves of a necklace.
The stringing process consists in securing the end pearl by a knot to
the diamond, pearl, or other clasp which may be used. When a necklace is
being strung, the thread is passed through the metal eye, or pearl, or
other object that serves as a clasp. It is then tied with one knot,
passed through the next pearl, and knotted between that and the second
pearl, and sometimes between the second and the third, thus making the
joint doubly secure. The other pearls are then strung in their order, a
knot being placed after each fifth, fourth, third, or second pearl, or,
should there not be enough to give a proper length to the necklace,
between each single pearl. The deftness with which the knot is tied so
as not to hold the pearl too tightly, and risk the breaking of the
thread, and the precision with which forty, fifty, and even sometimes
several hundred knots are made on a single string, is a pleasing
operation to witness, and requires the greatest care and nicety of
touch. If knots are made frequently between the pearls, there is less
danger of losing them should the thread break, as only one or two can
fall off; sometimes, indeed, when the drill holes are very small, the
silk thread, waxed or unwaxed, fits so closely that the pearl does not
become detached even when the thread breaks.
The thread used is invariably of silk of the highest standard of purity,
strength, and texture, undyed, and not containing any chemicals. Two or
three of these threads are held together, then with a knife the edges
are very carefully scraped till the combined material of the three
threads is less than the thickness of one. Some use a needle to scrape
or fray to a sharp point. Then this point is stiffened by means of
“white glue,” the best material of this kind being pure gum arabic
dissolved in water. A little of this is rubbed on the pointed threads.
It stiffens in a moment, then the pearls are passed on, one after the
other. If the pearls to be strung are already on a necklace, this
process is simplified by the unknotting of the end of the necklace to be
re-strung; two or three of the pearls are slid on to the new string, the
ends or points of the new necklace thread are twisted together with the
old ends and the pearls are simply transferred.
Frequently the holes have been drilled so as to leave the rims rather
sharp; in this way the thread may be frayed out or even cut. This sharp
edge can easily be removed by careful reaming. Silk of pure quality is
the best material known for stringing pearls. A series of experiments
were made with every available fiber of sufficient durability from every
quarter of the globe, but silk alone was found to possess the strength,
the flexibility, and the smoothness necessary to permit a very fine set
of threads to pass through an opening as small as the drill hole of a
pearl. In the case of a long chain or sautoire, more than three hundred
pearls will be strung on a single row, one of over eighty inches in
length containing over three hundred pearls, and it requires a degree of
neatness and patience that few possess to do this in exactly the right
way, so that the thread may not be cut, that the pearls may not be too
tightly strung, and that the ends shall be carefully attached at the
clasp, so that the necklace may hang well and there may be no danger of
the ends breaking loose.
According to the frequency with which it is worn, a necklace should be
re-strung every three, six, or twelve months. The proper time for
re-stringing can generally be determined by the stretching of the thread
so that it can be seen either between the pearls or at either end,
giving the impression that one or more pearls are missing. A newly
strung necklace is taut.
Where a collar is from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, there are
frequently twenty-three rows of pearls, kept straight by four jeweled
bars, and sometimes from ten to twenty-five pearls in a section between
a bar. This would mean that there are more than two thousand pearls in a
collar of small pearls. When one considers that at each bar and at the
catch and clasp of the collar it is necessary to make a knotting, it is
not surprising that it requires from three to four days’ time of a very
expert pearl stringer to string or re-string such a pearl collar. A
splendid example of such a twenty-three-row collar is that belonging to
Señora Diaz, wife of the President of the Republic of Mexico.[420]
Frequent stringing may sometimes serve as a protection for pearls, as,
if wax is used, the drill hole is likely to become coated with wax from
the thread, and this prevents the absorption by the pearl of
perspiration or moisture of any kind through the thread. Indeed, the
thread itself, when waxed, does not readily absorb moisture, and as the
interior of the pearl also becomes waxed, this serves to protect it from
the absorption of humidity of any kind.
In making pearl necklets or muff-chains, a piece of gold wire of the
proper strength and pliability is taken. This wire is passed through the
hole of the pearl and then cleverly bent into a loop on each side and
firmly soldered. It is important that the wire should be very slightly
smaller than the dimension of the hole in the pearl so that it may fit
closely. Sometimes, instead of this method, a ring is soldered to one
end of the wire before this is passed through the pearl, the other end
being then secured in the manner described above. Still another method
is occasionally employed; in this a piece of the wire is bent into a
ring, but not quite closed, the aperture being just large enough to
admit the wire that has traversed the pearl; in this way the wire can be
introduced into the opening in the ring, which grips it tightly, and is
then soldered to it. In many cases two small rings are strung on the
wire on each side of the pearl before the loops are made, so that they
interpose between the latter and the pearl itself. This serves to
protect the sides of the pearl, as there is otherwise some danger that
the hole may become chipped or ragged; the same result can be obtained
if small caps, closely fitting the pearl, are used instead of the rings.
This is, however, only possible when the pearl is quite round, and in
this case the effect produced is often very attractive.
[Illustration:
NECKLACE OF SEED-PEARLS. UNITED STATES. CIVIL WAR PERIOD.
]
Many of the pearls set as rings and studs are no longer set in points,
but are set upon a peg, or are “pegged,” as it is termed. Setting a
pearl in claws generally hides more than one half of the entire sphere.
But if the pearl is not properly secured upon the peg, it will
occasionally fall off. However, this can be obviated to a great extent
by attaching the pearl to a double peg which keeps it from turning and
also prevents its falling off. Pearls have occasionally been damaged
with the shellac used, or when the gold peg on which the pearl is placed
was too hot.
In mounting very small pearls as link chains so as to form a continuous
pearly rope without any break in the way of gold links, occasionally
V-shaped cavities are drilled into each end of the pearl, and the
setting itself is hidden in this V-shaped cavity. This is only done
where the pearls are small and not of great value.
The jeweler, in setting pearls, must use the greatest possible care,
first, in cutting away the settings, as they are fastened to the pearl,
not to scratch or mar it; and then, when he files the settings, not to
allow the file to touch the pearl, as both the steel tool and the file
would injure it. He must particularly avoid placing the pearl too close
to a diamond, ruby, or other precious stone; for, even if the pearl only
slightly touches the gem against which it is set, a knock of the hand
may mar the pearl’s surface. More especially, as pearls are set at
present, “pegged” and without points, it is of the greatest importance
that they be worn in such a way that they may not touch the unexposed
edges of any precious stones, as this also would injure the pearls. For
lack of this precaution fine pearls have frequently been harmed.
A large jewelry firm has under consideration the following pearl order:
Any workman who in any way mutilates a pearl by filing, imperfect
drilling or shaping, or in any way affects the shape of a pearl, without
the authority of the foreman, will be called upon to pay for the same.
As pearls are natural objects, any change of the same to fit the
setting, or for attachment to any gold object, mutilates the gem and
greatly affects its value. If belonging to a customer, this frequently
means its replacement, often at a great cost to the jeweler.
Pearl “blisters” frequently have the appearance of being empty; they are
generally filled with a fluid, either water or the product of animal and
vegetable decomposition. These contents usually emit a peculiar and
unpleasant odor. As the exterior of the inclosure gradually wears away
and disappears, the contents of the blister are slowly absorbed by the
shell itself, and any organic or insoluble substances are deposited on
its inner surface.
Thus, when a shell shows any protuberance on this surface, the peeler
will cut or scrape away a portion of the decaying shell behind the spot.
Should he discover the hole of a borer, he lays the shell aside; but if
he finds it to be perfect at this spot, it is evident that the inclusion
came from within, and frequently it turns out to be an included pearl.
This is removed by breaking the shell, or by cutting around the
protuberance very near to its edge, and then breaking away the shell.
The pearl is often visible, and layer after layer of the covering mass
is removed with the greatest care by the peeler, who is rewarded by
bringing to light pearls of various qualities, and frequently those of
great value.
An instance in which, by opening a pearl blister, the speculator
received a good reward is given by Streeter, who says: “The _Harriet_
had the good luck to find, in 1882, a pearl 103 grains in weight, which
was inclosed in a huge blister. It was a fine _bouton_, of splendid
color in the upper portion, but a trifle chalky below. This was
attributed to the admission of salt water into the shell through a hole
made by a borer which happened to pierce the shell just where the pearl
lay, and had penetrated the latter for almost a quarter of an inch.”
Sometimes pearl masses are hollow. Barbot[421] mentions that a French
merchant residing in Mexico, having bought one of these pieces from a
fisherman at a low price, resolved to satisfy his curiosity by finding
out what was inside. He split it in two parts and was agreeably
surprised to find a pearl weighing 14¼ carats (57 grains), so round, of
such good water, and such fine orient, that he sold it in Paris for
nearly 5000 francs ($1000) in 1850.
Seed-pearl work was introduced into the United States, about seventy
years ago, by Henry Dubosq, who had studied the methods employed in
Europe and has been succeeded in this industry by his son, Augustus
Dubosq. The father bought a large quantity of English seed-pearl
jewelry, brought it to this country, and hired a number of girls to take
it apart carefully and re-string it with white horsehair, to learn how
it was made. With no more teaching, he established an industry that has
already lasted for three score and ten years.
Seed-pearl jewelry was most in vogue from the year 1840 to 1860. It was
generally sold in sets, in a case consisting of a collar, two bracelets,
two earrings, a small brooch, and a large spray or corsage ornament. If
the object was almost round, occasionally there was a larger central
pearl, weighing from one to five grains, usually a button pearl; or, if
the ornament was elongated, there were generally three larger pearls.
These sometimes possessed a fairly good luster. Seed-pearl jewelry was
at one time so popular, and the values were so small in this country,
that a $1000 seed-pearl set formed a principal feature of the Tiffany
exhibit at the International Exposition held at the Crystal Palace, New
York, in 1855.
[Illustration:
MOTHER-OF-PEARL SHELL FROM TAHITI
Illustration of a mother-of-pearl shell, showing where a blister has
been cut out. In this instance a large pear-shaped pearly blister
appeared almost in the center of the shell. A dealer removed this by
means of a saw, and was surprised to find that the mother-of-pearl,
instead of remaining intact, parted in two pieces. Between these two
pieces was a mass of green and white calcareous matter. The two
upper figures show the pearly side and the outside of the shell
whence the blister was cut. The figures below show the inside and
outside of each half of the blister and the earthy matter inclosed.
A is the pearl sawn from the shell.
B is the piece of pearl that parted from the back of this pearly mass.
C and F are two views of the included calcareous matter.
D is the reverse of A, showing the cavity.
E is the reverse of B; originally A rested on B.
There was no indication of any hollow space, or that the mass was not
perfect.
]
Seed-pearl tiaras sell for from $75 to $200 or $300 each. The work is
almost entirely done by girls, either German or of German origin. As
labor is higher and pearls have advanced in price, none of the old work
could now be duplicated for the amount it cost twenty or thirty years
ago. The stringing of the pearls on the English scroll means probably
twelve hours of continuous work. An efficient pearl worker receives
$3.50 a day, which consists of not more than eight hours, as, owing to
the very trying character of the work, clear daylight is necessary to
see the holes in the small pearls and in the mother-of-pearl shell.
The foundation of all seed-pearl work is mother-of-pearl. The shell is
brought in thin plates, measuring from one and one half to two and one
half inches square. One of the most popular and attractive patterns is
the English scroll. If a design is to be repeated, a brass figure is
made. For the fabrication of a brooch, for instance, a design is first
made by drawing on a paper or cardboard; then a brass plate or pattern
is cut out, leaving spaces wherever there are to be no pearls. After
this a slab of stock mother-of-pearl, nearest the size of the brass
plate, is selected, and is sawn out, using the brass plate as a guide
for the outlines. The mother-of-pearl is then pierced wherever a pearl
is to be secured, and the pearls for its embellishment are chosen, and
are strung onto the mother-of-pearl outlines with a special horsehair
thread. All the work that remains for the jeweler is the addition of a
pin or catch on the back. A representation is given of the designs, the
brass plate, the mother-of-pearl, the horsehair, the pearls, and the
completed brooch made by this model.
Fine horsehair is used for stringing seed-pearls, because the holes
drilled in them are usually too small to admit of the use of silk, and
it is very important that what is known as pulled hair, taken from a
living horse, should be used, as otherwise the hair is too brittle. This
hair, in bunches of from eight to fourteen inches in length, is sold at
an average price of $1.50 a pound, and frequently only one ounce is
selected for use from the entire pound.
All the pearls used by the seed-pearl workers are purchased in strings
and bunches; the finest are those known as the Chinese seed-pearls; they
are drilled and strung in bunches, weighing three ounces, and are worth
$40 an ounce. They are drilled with so fine an aperture that silk will
not pass through the pearl, and only horsehair can be used. The Indian
Madras pearls, however, have a larger drill hole and can be strung with
silk; they are at present worth from eight to fifteen cents a grain,
that is, $48 to $90 per ounce.
Immense quantities of these very minute pearls are also used in bunches
or strings, sometimes as many as twenty or thirty strings being grouped
together and either bound straight or else twisted into veritable ropes
of pearls.
Seed-pearls are sold by the ounce, a single ounce frequently containing
as many as 9000,—that is, fifteen pearls to the pearl grain or sixty to
the carat,—selling for from $48 to $60 an ounce. Naturally, some of
these pearls are even smaller than this, but the average is maintained
by those that are a little larger.
Pearls as small as 100 to a diamond carat are drilled and used in
seed-pearl work. Diamonds, rubies, and even sapphires, however, are cut
in brilliant form when they are as small as 250 to 300 to the carat, or
45,000 to the ounce. The price of these small pearls, however, is only
from eight to fifteen cents per carat, whereas diamonds of this size are
worth from $200 to $300, their value being three times that of those
weighing one sixteenth to one eighth carat each. This is due to the fact
that the labor expended in cutting the smaller diamonds is much greater
than that bestowed upon the pearls, which simply require drilling and
not cutting.
“Half-pearl,” as we have mentioned, is the name given to such pearls as
are round and spherically domed and are either somewhat flat or almost
the shape of one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are
produced in two ways: some are cut away as hemispheres from the inner
surface of the shell of the pearl-mussel, but more usually they are the
better portions of defective whole pearls which are sawn or split by
hand into two “halves” with a minute saw, the defective part being
rejected altogether or classified as inferior half-pearl, while the
better half is classified as a I or II quality half-pearl. Frequently a
fine specimen is obtained from an elongated pearl, and sometimes two,
three, or even four half-pearls are secured from the various bright
parts of a round pearl. In splitting half-pearls, the pearl to be
operated upon is held by hand in a kind of grooved vice or pincers and
sawn through with a very fine saw; this process is at once simple,
rapid, and of insignificant cost.
Only pearls which cannot be cut are filed. In this process the poorer
side of the pearl in question is laid upon the file, and the operator
takes a piece of ordinary hard wood, so formed that he can grasp it
firmly in his hand, presses it down upon the pearl, and rubs the latter
on the file, removing all but the good side. In this way a half-pearl is
produced.
The smaller half-pearls are from .5 to .75 millimeters in diameter, and
an ordinary ounce of half-pearl material will number 18,000. Of the
manufactured half-pearls there are, on an average, 20,528 to an ounce.
The half-pearl industry is largely carried on in Idar, on the Nahe
River, and in Oberstein, in the Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. The pearls
are usually purchased from London or Paris houses in lots valued up to
$12,000 or more, although some of the firms buy directly from India. In
Idar about one hundred people are employed in this industry. Frequently
it is pursued m the home of the manufacturer, who may employ from one to
a dozen or more workers. These generally include a sorter or arranger,
and a marker to indicate the part of the pearl which should be sawn off.
There is also a trimmer or one who finally adjusts the pearls.
An unusually clever bit of deception was practised by an American pearl
fisher who had found two pearl blisters of almost identical size. Both
of these blisters were hollow, and were alike in form. The pearl dealer
very cleverly polished down both sides, rounded off the edges, cemented
the two backs together, and except for a tiny edge they had all the
appearance of a drop pearl that was fairly perfect on both sides. It
required but a little heating to separate the parts and show the
deception.
In setting half-pearls, they are generally selected from large lots with
great care as to their being of uniform size. A circular place for the
setting is often drilled with a steel drill, either for several or for a
single one. The half-pearl is frequently placed on one or more tiny
disks of paper, to give it the exact height in the setting, and the edge
of gold is rubbed up against the pearl, which is thus secured in its
place; or else tiny edges of gold are left projecting between each
pearl. These are pressed down after the pearl is in place. This process
requires great delicacy and skill and is frequently employed in the
decoration of pearl lockets and watches. In some of the cheaper work,
the half-pearls are cemented into the shallow disks that were drilled
for them, but frequently they are secured by metal points skilfully
raised out of the disks in which the pearls are set, and then pressed
down to hold the latter in place. Although apparently frailly set, it is
surprising that half-pearl ornaments have been owned for more than a
century, scarcely a pearl dropping out; and even if one or two pearls
should be lost from the piece of jewelry, the expense of replacing them
is not very great. They are often not as safely set when they are
mounted with diamonds, rubies, or other stones, more especially in
rounded rings or bracelets.
In drilling gold for the setting of half-pearls, where the hole must not
be carried right through the metal, a so-called “pearl drill” is used.
This is designed to cut a hole with a flat base in comparatively thin
layers of metal without disfiguring the opposite side, a task that can
easily be accomplished if care be taken not to drill deeper than is
strictly necessary for the safe adjustment of the pearl. For the
construction of this drill a piece of round steel wire of suitable size
is chosen; this is hammered flat at one end and then filed away at each
side, leaving a small spike standing in the center, which projects a
little beyond the cutting edges and acts as a pivot on which the drill
revolves. The steel on both sides of this spike is filed down to a fine
edge, care being taken to preserve the horizontal line, so that when the
spike is embedded in the metal both cutting edges come into play
simultaneously. If the drill is in good condition, it does its work very
rapidly, since it is used in an upright drill-stock, whose weight gives
a uniform and constant pressure. A good range of sizes of this drill
should be kept ready for use, so that one may be found to suit the
dimensions of any given pearl. This is essential in order to make an
opening just large enough to hold the gem, so that it may fit tightly,
without the necessity of reaming out the hole.
Half-pearls were frequently used with the most pleasing effect in the
decoration of antique watches. A number of remarkable examples of this
type are among the collection of antique watches of Henry Walters of
Baltimore. This collection had been acquired by Tiffany & Co. after the
sale of the San Donato Palace, the watches having been withdrawn from
the prince’s collection by his sister sometime before the sale.
In mounting pearls on gold, a white paste is sometimes employed in
half-pearl mounting, which is called by the French jewelers _gouache_.
This substance contains white lead, and its use is liable to be
injurious to the workmen, cases of lead colic having been recently
recognized as thus produced. This subject has lately (1907) been brought
forward at the Société Médicale des Hôpitaux in Paris. The cases were at
first mistaken for appendicitis, but proved to be well-marked cases of
lead poisoning. They had not been reported previously, and are evidently
not frequent, those noted being confined to instances in which the
employees had carelessly been in the habit of removing an excess of the
paste with the tongue.
Pearls that are constantly worn with judicious care do not seem to
deteriorate in any way. By judicious care we mean that pearls should not
be dropped or thrown down violently or placed on any substance which is
likely to act injuriously on the surface of the pearl itself.
Strings of pearls should never be dipped into water or solutions of any
kind, because the string which passes through them is likely to absorb
and to draw the liquid into the pearl, and as the pearl is made up of
many concentric layers, it is quite possible that, through capillary
action, some liquid, either pure, or stained with a foreign substance,
might be brought into the pearl, which would in this way eventually
become discolored. Rings and brooches containing half-pearls frequently
change color from this cause; but contact with the skin, or with lace,
or with fabrics which are not stained with certain chemical solutions,
seems to have no injurious effect upon pearls.
[Illustration:
Ladies’ sewing case and scissors inlaid with half-pearls
Eighteenth Century
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
[Illustration:
Snuff-box, ivory inlaid with fresh-water pearls
Eighteenth Century. Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
[Illustration:
Miniature of Catherine Emilie Peake, by Richard Cosway. Gold frame,
surrounded by half-pearls. Eighteenth Century
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
It is quite possible that in some instances where pearls which have been
inherited are thought to have changed and lost their beauty, this belief
has been owing to an exaggerated opinion of their quality on the part of
those who expected to inherit them and who never had the opportunity to
examine them carefully. In other words, in many cases where pearls are
believed to have lost their luster, to have died, or partly died, there
seems, from the personal observation of the writer, to be little doubt
that they never were really fine pearls, and that no change had actually
taken place in them. That pearls change but slightly is evidenced by the
fact that a splendid necklace belonging to the Empress Eugenie, which
was purchased about the year 1860, is in as good condition to-day as
when it first passed into the hands of the unfortunate empress of the
Second Empire. Many of the pearls in the royal treasury in Vienna that
belonged to Maria Theresa, and those that were disposed of at the sale
of the French crown jewels in 1886, as well as the pearls that are in
the imperial collection at St. Petersburg, do not seem to show any
appreciable evidence of age.
The pearl is of a lower hardness than any of the precious or
semiprecious stones, and almost as soft as malachite, though not so
friable or liable to break as is that mineral; nevertheless, it is in
many ways one of the most indestructible of natural objects of the low
hardness. Still, pearls, and especially fine pearls, require some care;
but, if the same attention is accorded them as would be given to a fine
piece of lace, velvet, or other fabric, or to a fine jewel, they will
last for a number of generations. If, however, pearls are worn at all
times without removal, if they are worn in the bath, if they are thrown
on a dressing-table, dropped on the floor, or otherwise ill-treated, if
they are worn on dusty automobile rides, in bicycle riding, or during
other gymnastic or violent exercise, it is inevitable that their sides
will rub together and wear one another away. If they are worn in the
bath or in swimming, the silk string which holds them, should it become
soaked, may draw some of the water, accompanied perhaps with dust and
perspiration, through the drill hole into the center of the pearl, and
this is likely to be absorbed in turn by the various layers of the
pearl, in some instances undoubtedly affecting the color, changing it to
a yellow or a gray. It would be well not to wear pearls under the
exceptional conditions above mentioned; and, if they are carefully wiped
at times, so as to remove any perspiration or dust, their color is not
likely to be affected for a long period of time.
Dr. George Harley writes in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society,”
March 1, 1888, p. 463:
On one occasion being desirous to crush into powder a split-pea
sized pearl, we folded it between two plies of note-paper, turned up
the corner of the carpet, and placing it on the hard, bare floor,
stood upon it with all our weight. Yet, notwithstanding that we
weigh over twelve stone, we failed to make any impression whatever
upon the pearl, and even stamping upon it with the heel of our boot
did not suffice so much as to fracture it. It was accordingly given
to the servant to break with a hammer, and on his return he informed
us that on attempting to break it with the hammer against the pantry
table, all he succeeded in doing was to make the pearl pierce
through the paper and sink into the wooden table, just as if it had
been the top part of an iron nail, and that it was not until he had
given it a hard blow with the hammer against the bottom of a
flat-iron that he succeeded in breaking it.
As the foregoing and other notes had appeared on this subject, the
author was led to observe that pearls are possessed of greater
durability than is generally supposed. In order to demonstrate this
satisfactorily, he took a number of American pearls and placed them upon
different kinds of woods, such as white and yellow pine, white oak,
teak, ash, cherry, chestnut, and rosewood. He then stood upon them, thus
bringing a weight of more than two hundred pounds to bear upon them by
means of his heel. The pearls were driven into the different woods, with
the single exception of the rosewood, which offered greater resistance
so that the pearl only entered partly. In but one instance did a pearl
suffer by a slight scaling off. This shows the strength of the many
concentric layers, both mineral and vegetable.
This does not signify that pearls should be stepped upon, trodden upon,
or thrown about, as it is not unlikely that a pearl would crack if it
should fall from some height upon a hardwood or stone floor.
It is believed by many that wrapping pearls in dyed velvets or in fatty
woolen materials, and locking them up in safe-deposit vaults, may
slightly change them. On the other hand, there is no doubt that sunlight
will bleach a pearl, and hence it is that wearing them in the light and
air cannot injuriously affect them.
For cleaning pearls, first rub them with a cloth dipped in alcohol
diluted with warm (not hot) water, or in a weak solution of soap and
water, then dip another cloth in clean water and rub the pearls until
they are dry. Be careful not to leave them wet. Either salt, rice,
pearl-powder, or some exceedingly soft substance may aid in cleaning
them, but no abrasive such as ground pumice, electro-silicon, or any
powder that is sold as a polishing powder, should be used.
[Illustration:
EVOLUTION OF A SEED-PEARL BROOCH
Mother-of-pearl plate Brass model Pearl brooch completed
Design of brooch Mother-of-pearl sawn out
]
[Illustration:
Seed-pearls, Indian strings White horsehair for stringing
]
There are many things that will cause injury to pearls. Occasionally
they are affected by the wearer having exudations from the skin induced
by some disease or else by acids which pass out through the pores with
the perspiration. A smoky atmosphere in which a sulphuric acid is
present owing to sulphur in the coal, violent usage such as knocking
severely, or dropping—all of these will in time cause more or less
injury to a pearl, more especially to one of the whiter varieties; but
it is believed that those of a yellowish cast are not so susceptible.
Diderot mentioned this as early as 1765.
The “life” of a pearl is said to be fifty, one hundred, and perhaps even
one hundred and fifty years; they certainly last for several
generations. It has been asserted, without any particular authority,
that pearls from the Pacific Ocean and those from Mexico do not last as
long as those from the Orient, but this statement is questionable.
If there be any foundation for the belief that it is not well to lock
pearls in a safe-deposit box, this is probably owing to the fact that
the absolute exclusion from the air may cause the drying out of the
organic constituent of the pearl. This may be obviated by putting the
pearls in a piece of linen absolutely free from any chemical, at the
same time placing with them a bit of blotting-paper or fiber-paper
saturated with water; the whole should then be wrapped up in paraffin
paper, which will prevent the evaporation of the moisture.
Many sentimental recitals have appeared in the press during the last ten
years in regard to the dying of pearls. In connection with this there is
a beautiful though mythical story to the effect that Carlotta, wife of
the ill-fated Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, was the possessor of a
large collection of pearls which had died, and that these pearls had
been placed in a casket and sunk in the depths of the Adriatic, opposite
the beautiful but unhappy palace home, Miramar, in the hope that the
salt water would revive and restore their original luster. When,
however, the time came to bring up the pearls from the sea, it was found
that the casket had, in some way, broken loose from the chains, and all
trace of it was lost. It is needless to state that there was absolutely
no foundation for this romantic tale; indeed, these very pearls were
afterward sold. Furthermore, pearls have never lived, and hence they can
never die. They do, however, decay, if exposed to influences which
destroy either the calcareous or the animal layer of the pearl itself.
This is due to many causes: first, overheating, sometimes through the
inexperience of a pearl driller; secondly, undue exposure to heat in the
washing of a pearl necklace; thirdly, exposure to acids or acid fumes.
Apparently there seems to be some foundation for the belief that if they
are confined in safe-deposit boxes, probably in contact with wool or
with the colored velvets of jewel-cases, the skin of the pearl may be
more or less affected. There is no question that in the oriental
fisheries so-called dead pearls have been found in the shell itself,
probably owing to some disease of the pearl-oyster; and they have also
appeared in the fresh-water pearl fisheries of the United States, where
the pearls have been too long boiled in the opening of the shell, or
where they have been swallowed and have passed through the body of some
ruminant, such as a hog, etc.
[Illustration:
Facsimile letter of M. Gaston Mogeaud, Director of the Louvre, Paris,
stating that the Madame Thiers’ pearls are in perfect condition, and
have never been in better health.
]
[Illustration:
MADAME THIERS’S PEARL NECKLACE, BEQUEATHED TO THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS
]
Probably about no necklace has more been printed than about the famous
necklace of Madame Thiers, now in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Article
after article has gone over the face of the earth, stating that the
pearls in this necklace were dying, and that a record was being kept of
the slow death that was overtaking them. Through the courtesy of the
director of the museum, M. Gaston Mogeaud, we are permitted to reproduce
the following statement from a letter, showing very clearly that there
is absolutely no truth in the assertion, and that this necklace has in
no way suffered, or is likely to suffer, for many years to come.
“The necklace of Madame Thiers has caused much ink to flow, to such an
extent that, a few months ago, the minister ordered an examination to be
made by three expert jewelers, who have found that the pearls are in
perfect condition, and have never been in better health.”
For assuring the safety of jewels there are the primitive methods such
as are used in the East Indies, of hiding pearls in out-of-the-way
places, where they often escape detection; or else they may be protected
by means of an armored room, like the gem-room that contained the
wonderful collection of the Duke of Brunswick when he resided in Paris.
Decoy necklaces have even been made to represent the original, and so
placed that they were taken away by the highwayman or stolen by the
burglar under the belief that he was stealing the jewels; while in other
cases the pearls have been carried in receptacles that would not be
taken for jewel-caskets, a device resorted to by some travelers.
A word in regard to the former system of strong boxes or small safes for
the home. These protect from fire and from the ordinary thief, but they
have sometimes not proved so invulnerable to the expert cracksman. Quite
recently a jewel chest has been devised which can be placed in a trunk
and carried from city to city by the owner. It is provided with an
exceedingly sensitive electrical apparatus, by means of which a loud
burglar alarm is set off should the chest be lifted even one
thirty-second of an inch or jarred ever so slightly. This alarm is set
automatically when the owner turns the key, and if once started, it will
ring for a couple of hours, stopping only when the box is unlocked, thus
preventing the carrying away of what is otherwise a portable box.
Lastly, there are the more advanced methods, in use during the past two
centuries, such as taking the jewels to a banker and allowing him to
place them in his vault, where they are guarded as well as are his own
belongings, but not always with the security of the modern safe-deposit
vaults, where the gems are absolutely under the control of the owner,
and can frequently be obtained at any hour of the day; or as safely kept
as they are when deposited in the safe deposit of the jeweler, in whose
establishment they can be cleaned, repaired, added to, or changed
without risking their removal to another building.
XV
PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION
XV
PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION
And the necklace,
An India in itself, yet dazzling not.
BYRON, _Marino Faliero_.
The brilliant diamond and the love of its possession has captivated many
to such a degree that it has often been the cause of intrigue and
bloodshed; and national history has been influenced by its acquisition
or retention. The pearl, however, though the most quiet of gems, has, in
its own way, found favor in the sight of emperors and empresses, kings
and queens, generals, nobles, and priests; and even savages have admired
its quiet, stately dignity.
The following pages are devoted to a description of the various
ornamental uses of the pearl in different times and countries.
Naturally, many of the famous pearls in the following chapter, if
considered purely as ornaments, might have found a place here.
The Egyptians of olden times do not appear to have used fine pearls,
although they probably knew of them on account of the proximity of the
Red Sea. M. J. de Morgan, the explorer, says: “In the tombs of Dashour I
have never seen any; the only ones that I know of in Egyptian jewelry
belong to the Ptolemaic period and are mounted in Greek style.”[422]
This statement is confirmed by Dr. William F. Petrie, the well-known
Egyptologist, who writes under date of July 26, 1907: “The pearl was
often used in Roman jewelry in Egypt, but I do not know of any instance
of it in pure Egyptian work. The Romans pierced it and hung it by gold
wire on earrings. They also made glass, pearl-like beads, called _luli_
by the modern natives. These beads are made by silvering glass beads and
then flashing over them another coat of glass.”
Among specimens of the late Egyptian work we may note here some objects
in the Louvre:
A pleasing decoration on gold wire is a necklace in the collection of
the Egyptian Gallery. In this very small pearls are used as a connective
decoration for the points of leaves, and to hold the leaves and
ornaments is a gold wire which is secured by bending. This piece
comprises 104 pearls, a greater number than is contained in any other
object of antiquity found in Egypt.
An Egyptian pendant of unknown origin is also shown in this collection.
At the lower end is a bull’s head, caparisoned, and the tip of each horn
is fitted with a ball like the _embolados toros_ of the Spanish
bull-fights. The rein is double, and above this there are two rondelles
of an unidentified material; then comes a rondelle of lapis lazuli, and
after this a rondelle of gold. The whole is strung with twisted gold
wire. The center stone is an hexagonal amethyst, evidently a crystal,
the two faces of which had been polished and incised. One of these faces
represents a priest with a staff of office, and the other a priest
holding an incense-burner with the hieroglyph of the altar. With one
hand he is offering the two sacrifices, the mineral and the vegetable;
in the other he holds a garland of flowers or leaves. Above this is an
Oriental pearl somewhat worn and abraded. All these are secured by a
twisted gold wire, to which four tiny gold beads of graduated size are
affixed at the top of the pendant.
There are six other pendants and earrings in the Egyptian Gallery, all
of which contain pearls, and in most instances these pearls have been
drilled and suspended by metal wires, unless they are used as an
ornament facing outward. In four instances they are secured by a peg of
gold.
The Assyrian and Persian bas-reliefs show that the sovereigns and great
personages of those countries adorned themselves profusely with pearls.
They wore them not only in their jewelry, but also on their garments and
even in their beards![423] The coins of the Persian kings also bear
testimony to the use of the gem in ancient Persia, since the sovereigns
are represented wearing tiaras ornamented with triple rows of
pearls.[424] The same may be said of the imperial Roman diadem from the
time of Caracalla (188–217 A.D.).
One of the most interesting of all ancient pearl necklaces,[425]
containing more pearls than any other that has been found, and in a
better state of preservation, is the Susa necklace now in the Persian
Gallery of the Louvre Museum. It consists of three rows, each containing
72 pearls, so that there are 216 in all. Ten gold bars, formed of three
small disks, each about five millimeters in diameter, divide the
necklace into nine equal sections; at each end there is a disk, ten
millimeters in diameter, to which the three strands are secured. If
there was any other setting, it has evidently disappeared, although it
is quite possible that there may only have been a string at each end, as
in the East Indian necklaces.
[Illustration:
ANTIQUE ORNAMENTS OF PEARLS
No. 1. Gold pin from Paphos, Island of Cyprus, mounted with large
marine and small fresh-water pearl, now in British Museum.
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Gold earrings and pins set with pearls, now
in the Egyptian Gallery of the Louvre, Paris.
No. 9. Pearl and gold necklace found at Susa, Persia, now in the
Louvre, Paris.
]
This ornament was found on the site of the ancient Susa or Shushan by M.
J. de Morgan, February 10, 1901, in a bronze sarcophagus, which
contained the skeleton of a woman, adorned with a great number of gold
ornaments set and incrusted with precious stones. M. de Morgan gives
_circa_ 350 B.C. as the probable date of these objects. The pearls were
much deteriorated. About 238 were found, but many of them crumbled away
when they were touched. M. de Morgan considers that the necklace was of
the type of the “dog-collar” of to-day, and he believes that it
originally comprised from 400 to 500 pearls.
According to a personal communication from M. P. Cavvadias, of the
Société Archéologique d’Athènes, there are no pearls on the ancient
ornaments preserved in the National Museum at Athens. This is hardly
surprising in view of the fact that the greater part of these ornaments
belong to the archaic period of Greek art; that is to say, to a time
when the pearl was evidently unknown to the Greeks.
The fact that we do not find more evidence of the use of pearls in
Greece at a later period need cause no surprise, when we consider how
many of the treasures of Greek art have disappeared in the course of
more than twenty centuries. There can be no question that they were
known and used as ornaments at an early time, as we can infer from the
description of them by Theophrastus and later Greek authors.
Dr. Edward Robinson of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other
authorities on Greek art and archæology, maintain that the Arethusa
necklace, and other ornaments of that time, depicted on coins, etc.,
were meant to represent gold ornaments, as it is believed by many that
pearls were unknown in Greece at that period.
One of the most interesting specimens showing the use of a pearl in
ancient times is a very beautiful pearl pin from Paphos, on the Island
of Cyprus, which is mounted with a large marine pearl, probably the
largest antique pearl ever found, measuring fourteen millimeters in
diameter, and weighing about 70 grains. This, unfortunately, has been
very much abraded and worn away, although more than half of the pearl is
still present. It is surmounted by a small fresh-water pearl, four
millimeters in diameter, weighing about two grains and in a much better
state of preservation. This unusually interesting example of prehistoric
pearl is in the Greek and Roman department of the British Museum, and we
are able to show it by the courtesy of the keeper of that department,
Dr. Charles Hercules Read.
In excavations made last spring (1907), in the Hauran district in Syria,
Azeez Khayat found a number of loose pearls which had formed a necklace.
The tomb in which they were discovered was cut in the rock, and appeared
to be of Roman origin. The pearls were still attached to the old bronze
wire with which they had been strung. Mr. Khayat also mentions the
finding of a pearl pin, and a single earring bearing a pearl, in a
rock-tomb at Cæsarea, in Syria. Rock-cut tombs from ten to twelve feet
in depth are frequently discovered, and they probably date from the
beginning of the Christian era.
The habit was so common of using pearls as a base to throw up the
brilliance of other gems, that we may, perhaps, believe even in
Caligula’s slippers of pearls, with rubies and emeralds set upon them
like flowers.
The Roman ladies had a special favor for pearls as earrings, and it was
one of their consuming ambitions to possess exceptionally fine specimens
for this purpose. They preferred pear-shaped pearls, and often wore two
or three of them strung together. They jingled gently as they moved
about—a fitting accompaniment, it may be said, to their graceful
movements—and from this jingling the name _crotalia_, or “rattles,” was
applied to them.
The description given by Pliny of the pearl ornaments of Lollia Paulina
is the principal claim which the wife of Caligula has on our interest.
I myselfe have seen Lollia Paulina when she was dressed ... so beset
and bedeckt all over with hemeraulds and pearles, disposed in rewes,
ranks, and courses one by another; round about the attire of her
head, her cawle, her borders, her perruke of hair, her bongrace and
chaplet; at her ears pendant, about her neck in a carcanet, upon her
wrest in bracelets, & on her fingers in rings; that she glittered
and shone againe like the sun as she went. The value of these
ornaments she esteemed and rated at forty million Sestertij[426] and
offered openly to prove it out of hand by her bookes of accounts and
reckonings. Yet were not these jewels the gifts and presents of the
prodigall prince her husband, but the goods and ornaments from her
owne house, fallen to her by way of inheritance from her
grandfather, which he had gotten together even by the robbing and
spoiling of whole provinces. See what the issue and end was of those
extortions and outrageous exactions of his: this was it. That M.
Lollius, slandered and defamed for receiving bribes and presents of
the kings in the East; and being out of favor with C. Cæsar, sonne
of Augustus, and having lost his amitie, dranke a cup of poison, and
prevented his judiciall triall: that forsooth his neece Lollia, all
to be hanged with jewels of 400 hundred thousand Sestertij, should
be seene glittering, and looked at of every man by candle-light all
a supper time.[427]
[Illustration:
TYSZKIEWICZ BRONZE STATUETTE OF APHRODITE, SHOWING EARRINGS OF PEARL
AND GOLD OF EARLY GREEK PERIOD
Now in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.
]
And the taste of the Roman ladies for pearls has perpetuated itself in
Italy, though other of the luxurious habits which in their case
accompanied it, have long since died out. The women of Florence even now
are not content if they do not possess a necklet of pearls, and this
generally forms the marriage portion of the middle-class women. It is
thought, just as it was in ancient Rome, that this gives an air of
respectability, and forms a sure protection from insult in the street or
elsewhere.
One of the earliest illustrations showing a pearl earring is the one in
the ear of Julia, the daughter of Titus, incised on a splendid
aquamarine in the Bibliothèque Nationale. This gem was formerly in the
Treasury of St. Denis, and is considered to belong to the Carlovingian
period.[428]
So large and heavy were the earrings worn in Rome that there were women
known as _auriculæ ornatrices_, special doctresses whose sole occupation
was the healing of ear tumors and of injured or infected ears. In a
similar way, at the present day, we have the ear piercer, whose
vocation, however, is rapidly becoming useless because of the ingenious
modern devices for holding the pearls to unpierced ears; and we must
consider this eminently desirable when we think of the ear-piercing
outfits of the former jeweler, who never disinfected his apparatus, and
when we recall the fact that it was always expected that the ear would
swell, first, from the crude awl that was used, and, secondly, from the
unsterilized instruments.
That the Romans believed in decorating the statues of their goddesses
with pearls and dedicating them as offerings, is evidenced by the gift
of Cleopatra’s pearl, which was cut in halves to make earrings for the
Venus of the Pantheon; and by the buckler of British pearls for the
statue of Venus Genetrix, given by Julius Cæsar. Quite a number of
statues and busts of the Roman period, and some of an earlier time, have
the ears pierced for the reception of earrings, and it is highly
probable that pearls were used for this decoration. Among these are the
busts of Pallas and Juno Lanuvina in the Vatican; that of Eirene, a
marble copy of a work of Cephisdotus, in the Glyptothek, Munich, and the
Venus de Medici in the Uffizi, Florence.
Pottier[429] mentions several other Greek statues which show that
earrings were used for their adornment; as, for example, the winged
Victory of Archernos, in Delos; the head of one of the caryatids found
at Delphi, a cast of which is in the Louvre; the archaic Aphrodite of
the Villa Ludovisi; the Athena from the frieze of the temple at Ægina;
the Venus of Milo, etc. In other instances the ornament was simply
painted on the ear as is shown in the Aphrodite in white marble which
has been found in Marseilles. This may also have been the case in the
frieze at Olympia. The earrings used in these statues were usually metal
disks entirely covering the lobe of the ear. We have, however, many
representations of pearl earrings in the paintings at Pompeii, and on
cameos and coins. These show us several of the types mentioned by Pliny
and other authors; still, they are smaller and more unpretentious than
we might expect in view of the well-known luxury of the Roman ladies in
this respect. The greater part of the earrings represented show a pearl
suspended from a single wire; there are some, however, with three
pearls, one above the other,[430] and a few bearing several pearls
loosely hung together, answering to the description of the _crotalia_.
Others, again, bear pear-shaped pearls or _elenchi_.[431] It is a
singular fact that scarcely any of the busts of Roman women are
ornamented with earrings, but it is quite possible that the cause for
this must be sought in the desire of the artist to dispense with
unimportant details which might detract from the general effect he
wished to produce. We may note, however, four female figures in the
Gallerie des Empereurs in the Louvre Museum, with the ears pierced for
the reception of earrings (Nos. 1195, 1202, 1230, and 1269).
[Illustration:
Pearl earrings from Herculaneum and Pompeii
]
Many numismatists, among them Dr. F. Louis Comparette,[432] believe that
the necklaces and earrings represented on Greek coins from the fifth
century B.C. are intended to represent pearl ornaments, since the
personages depicted are in all cases female divinities, goddesses, or
nymphs, held in great veneration in the city where the coins were
minted, and it is almost certain that the artist intended to portray the
choicest and most beautiful of gems as an adornment for the beautiful
head of the city’s patron.
The Syracusan coins, by Euvenetus, minted in the early part of the fifth
century B.C., and bearing the head of Arethusa, seem to be the earliest
coins showing a neck and ear ornament. This was later imitated on the
Greek and Greco-Roman coins. A coin of Sulla shows a double necklace,
one strand consisting of round beads and the other of pendants. The
later coins almost always represent the goddesses with neck and ear
ornaments. Some of the latter, however, resembling amphoræ, are neither
round nor pear-shaped.
In view of the great fondness of the Romans for pearls, it is not
surprising that many of these gems have been found in the excavations at
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capodimonte. The collection of earrings
preserved in the Naples Museum is especially noteworthy. Here we can see
earrings consisting of a simple golden hoop, from which hangs a wire
bearing a single pearl; others in which a cross-bar is attached to the
hoop, and at each end of this bar is a loosely hung wire with a pearl at
its extremity, this earring suggesting the _crotalia_ mentioned by Pliny
(see Fig. A); and still others wherein the pearls are strung directly on
the hoop. The cross-bars are of various designs, sometimes entirely
smooth, and again shaped like a cornice or a pediment; in other cases we
have an earring with two pearls on a wire, then a pierced transparent
stone, and beneath that, two pearls terminating the large drop. A few of
the earrings are more elaborate, as, for example, one represented in
Fig. B which was found in Pompeii, March 8, 1870. Here there is an
emerald in the center, surrounded by gold rays, between which were set
eight pearls, two of which are now missing; above is a small pearl. The
single earring shown in Fig. D came from Herculaneum, and bears a
circlet of thirteen pearls, alternating with rubies and other stones;
beneath there is a link from which depends a pearl about seven and a
fifth millimeters in diameter, and weighing nearly twelve grains. The
fact that we know the latest date to which these pearls can be assigned,
namely, 79 A.D., renders them peculiarly interesting and valuable from a
historical point of view. Naturally, many of them are calcined or
otherwise damaged, but others are fairly well preserved as to form,
although the luster has departed from them. There are twenty-seven
earrings in the collection, and the pearls number about one hundred. No
great pearls were found.
In the Roman excavations, and in those of other early remains, many
objects are found in which there may be a sapphire, an emerald, or
several other stones, pierced, and pendant on a gold wire, with a blank
space between, showing that something was there originally. This object
has apparently decomposed and fallen away. We may reasonably suppose
that it was either a pearl or a glass bead, and it is unlikely that
glass would be used in connection with the more precious materials. This
pearl or glass may have been affected by the organic acids or the acids
resulting from the decomposition of the body with which the ornament was
buried for a score of centuries.
Among the ancient jewels containing pearls which are preserved in the
Hermitage at St. Petersburg, we may mention a broken gold ring with a
roughly cut turquoise and two pendants, each set with two pearls
separated by a garnet. This object was found in southern Siberia during
the reign of Peter the Great, and may belong to the second century
before Christ. Also may be noted a pair of gold earrings, with an
engraved six-rayed star, in the center of which a pearl is set, while
below hang three pendant sticks, two of which have a pearl at the
extremity. These earrings were found in 1892 in a tomb situated close to
the site of the ancient town of Chersonesus, in the Crimea. As a coin of
the Emperor Gordianus III (224–244 A.D.) was discovered in the same
tomb, we may assign the earrings to the first half of the third century
A.D.
Beside another pair of earrings, one of which is set with a pearl, and
two pearl-headed pins, all from the neighborhood of Tiflis, in the
Crimea, we may especially refer to an earring made of a plain, thick,
golden wire, on which seven pearls are threaded; one of these occupies
the center and the others are grouped around it. This earring was
purchased in 1903 by the Russian Imperial Archæological Commission from
a collector residing at Odessa; it is said to have been found on the
site of the ancient Greek colony of Olbia, but we have no definite
external or internal evidence to sustain this view.
We may also note the gold necklace and earrings[433] containing pearls
found near the site of Olbia during the reign of Napoleon III, and now
in the collection of the Roman, Campana. These objects are especially
interesting owing to the fact that the pearls are drilled and a gold cap
is set on each side.
A pair of pearl earrings were found in a tomb on Mount Mithridates, near
Kertch, in the Crimea. These earrings probably belong to the third or
fourth century of our era. Of the four pearls which originally adorned
the cross-bars, only one has been preserved. Another pair of earrings
was discovered in the same place. It is probable that they were
ornamented with pearls in a similar way, but the latter have entirely
disappeared.
[Illustration:
ANTIQUE PEARL ORNAMENTS
No. 1. Gold earring with turquoise top. Two pearls, two garnets, and
two pearls. Found in southern Siberia in 1726; believed to be of the
second century, A.D.
No. 2. Brass earring with one pearl and glass beads. Fourth century,
A.D.
No. 3. Brass dress pin. Sphere of amber, surmounted by a pearl. Found
near village of Mzchet Caucasus. Fourth century, A.D.
No. 4. Carnelian dress pins with pearl tops. Early Christian.
No. 5. Gold earring, hook and eye type. From Olbia, the site of an
ancient Greek colony. Fourth century, A.D.
Nos. 1 to 5 are from the collection of the Imperial Hermitage in St.
Petersburg.
Nos. 6–8–9. Pearl and gold earrings, Greek, from the Island of Cyprus.
Second century, A.D.
No. 7. Roman brooch (pearls and gold), found in the river Thames,
England. Ninth century, A.D.
]
Gabriele Bremond states in his “Viaggi di Egitto,” _Lib._ I, c. 30, that
it was a Mohammedan custom to embroider baldachins and carpets of
precious metals with pearls. This use is especially typified in a
baldachin of gold embroidered with pearls which is over the sepulcher of
Mohammed at Mecca.[434]
When the Mohammedans captured the Persian city Ctesiphon, in 637, they
collected an immense booty. Each of the 60,000 soldiers received the
value of 12,000 dirhems ($1560), a total of $93,600,000. Among the
treasures sent to Caliph Omar (581–644), in Medina, was a crown, perhaps
that of Khusrau I (499–579), which Tabari says was studded with 1000
pearls each as large as a bird’s egg.[435] There was also a wonderful
carpet 450 feet long and 90 broad, with a border of emeralds, rubies,
sapphires, and pearls, representing luxuriant foliage and beautiful
flowers. Tabari states that it was called the “Winter Carpet,” because
“the Persian kings used it in winter when there was no longer verdure or
flowers, for whoever was seated on this carpet thought he looked out
upon a garden or a green field.”[436]
On the occasion of the marriage of the Caliph Al-Mamun (786–833) with
the daughter of Hassan Sahal, all the grandees of Al-Mamun received
slaves of both sexes as presents from the bride’s father. The
preliminary negotiations were held at Fomal Saleh, and the road
traversed by the bride and bridegroom to reach Bagdad, a distance of one
hundred miles, was covered with mats of cloth of gold and silver. We are
told that the bride wore on her head-dress a thousand pearls, each of
which is said to have been of enormous value.[437]
Describing the birthday festival of Kublai Khan (_circa_ 1275 A.D.),
Marco Polo says: “The Great Kaan dresses in the best of his robes, all
wrought with beaten gold; and full 12,000 Barons and Knights on that day
came forth dressed in robes of the same colour, and precisely like those
of the Great Kaan, except that they are not so costly; but still they
are all of the same colour as his, and are also of silk and gold. Every
man so clothed has a girdle of gold; and this as well as the dress is
given him by the Sovereign. And I will aver that there are some of these
suits decked with so many pearls and precious stones that a single suit
shall be worth full 10,000 golden bezants [about $25,000].”[438]
In the Kan period, in China, the dead bodies of the emperors were
embalmed and wrapped in a garment ornamented with pearls. They were then
inclosed in a case of jade.[439]
Speaking of the jewels of the King of Maabar, or what is now known as
the Coromandel Coast, Marco Polo tells us: “It is a fact that the king
goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine
cloth and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious
stones,—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this
collar is of great value. He wears also hanging in front of his chest
from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls
and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the
104 great pearls is (according to what they tell) that every day,
morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is
their religion and custom; and thus did all the kings his ancestors
before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he
should do the like.”[440]
A favorite East Indian amulet is known as the “Nao-ratna” or
“Nao-ratan,” and consists of “nine gems”: in former times the pearl,
ruby, topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire, and a
stone, not identified, called the gomeda. At the present time these
stones are generally the coral, topaz, sapphire, ruby, flat diamond, cut
diamond, emerald, hyacinth, and carbuncle. This talisman may suggest the
Urim and Thummin or sacred oracle of the Jews, which was said to have
been taken from Jerusalem in 615 A.D. by Khusrau II, the Sassanian
Persian king.
The East Indian custom for persons of quality was to wear a pearl
between two colored stones in each ear, that is, either between two
rubies or two emeralds; and Tavernier noted, about 1670, that there was
no person of any consideration in those regions who did not wear, in
each ear, a pearl set between two colored stones. Another favorite
ornament for women in India is a girdle elegantly embroidered, bearing a
large pendant pearl in front, where it is fastened.[441]
A necklace of twenty-seven pearls bears in India the name of _nakshatra
mālā, nakshatras_ (originally “stars”) being the name of the
twenty-seven divisions of the Hindu zodiac.[442]
In the Indian jewels often a small spot of enamel is fastened or melted
on to a gold wire, and then one or several pearls are hung upon it; or
beads of some gems, as sapphire, ruby, emerald, or even glass, may be
added or alternated with pearls. Then the enamel stop-piece is turned
down and the other end of the gold wire is twisted on to the setting,
loosely, in such a manner as to swing freely. It is the effect of these
dozens or even hundreds of swinging drops that add such grace and
elegance to East Indian jewelry.
[Illustration:
EAST INDIAN NECKLACE OF PEARLS, TABLE DIAMONDS, GLASS BEADS, GOLD AND
ENAMEL
Property of an American lady
]
In China, such precious stones as the ruby, sapphire—both blue and
yellow—the emerald, and the pink tourmaline, are not facetted, as with
us, but are generally polished in conformity to the shape of the bead or
other ornament, and never have a lathe-turned or cut appearance; they
are either set in cabochon or as beads, rounded, oval, or elongated. All
these forms, and the colors used by the Chinese, lend themselves well to
combinations with pearls; and hence pearls are often found in Chinese
jewelry, especially in those ornaments which are flexible and graceful,
in which the pearls and gems are strung on wire and allowed to swing
freely with a gentle tinkle when the wearer moves. This is not unlike
the setting of such gems in ancient Roman times. An admirable example is
shown and described in Bushell’s “Chinese Art” (Vol. II, plate 108, page
90). In this head-dress of a Manchu lady, there are combined with the
pearls, jadeite, amethyst, amber, and coral, on a gilt silver openwork,
with blue kingfisher feathers. This great cap of state is an admirable
example of pure Chinese design and workmanship. The pendant strings of
pearls are occasionally relieved by a bit of carved jade, carnelian or
coral, especially the latter. Another example, the “cap of state” has
silver-gilt openwork and immortelles (Taoist symbols), and is much
enhanced in beauty by a decoration or inlay of plates of the beautiful
blue feathers of the kingfisher, which are used so extensively and
effectively in Chinese jewelry. The pearls are scattered at intervals
over the cap, and ten strings of them hang from the sides of it. This is
believed to be of Manchu origin by Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, the great
Chinese scholar, to whom we are indebted for the use of the
illustration. We are also told that young ladies in China wear a sort of
crown constructed of pasteboard, covered with silk. This is adorned with
pearls, diamonds, and other jewels.[443]
The pearls on many Chinese ornaments were generally strung upon silk,
often with half a dozen or a dozen seed-pearls above and below the large
pearl, to hold the latter in place, and also to add a softness to the
whole jewel. The end pendant pearl, even if pear-shaped, was usually
pierced entirely through, and a wire that was worked through it was
flattened out, and this gold head was again ornamented in some way. A
Chinese pendant from the China-Japan war-loot offers an excellent
illustration of this kind of pearl-setting. This was preserved in a
double box of finely carved gold.
The rosaries containing 104 pearls, which are used to-day, were
mentioned centuries ago by Marco Polo, and an excellent pearl string of
this kind has been in the Russian Treasury at Moscow for over two
hundred years. Dr. Stewart Culin, the archæologist, who has paid much
attention to Chinese customs, informs us that the black and white
counters made for use in games by the Chinese are called black and white
pearls.
Dr. T. Nishikawa writes us in 1908 that pearls were used in Japan for
ornamental purposes more than a thousand years ago. Large abalone pearls
are found in images of Buddha made in 300 A.D. Fresh-water pearls,
usually from Dipsas and Unio, were also used. A beautiful color-print
was made by Hoku’ai of the first pearl, called “tide-jewel” by the
Japanese.
Most interesting pearls are those in a brooch in the British Museum,
which was discovered in 1839 while excavating a sewer opposite Ludgate
Hill in Thames Street, at the depth of about nine feet, in a
dark-colored artificial stratum of earth, unaccompanied by any remains
that could aid in throwing light upon its history. It is four inches and
a half in circumference, and is composed of a circular compartment an
inch and a quarter in diameter, set with variegated enamel, representing
a full-faced head and bust, with a crown on the head, and the drapery of
a mantle, formed of threads of gold effectively arranged so as to mark
the features of the face and the folds of the drapery; this is inclosed
in a border of rich gold filigree work, set at equal distances with four
pearls.[444] Dr. Charles Roach Smith attributes this brooch to the time
of King Alfred, and supposes it to have been executed in England by a
foreign artist. He only ventures a conjecture that the head might be
that of King Alfred.
Crowns, both ancient and modern, are richly ornamented with pearls. We
shall treat of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and of the imperial
Austrian crown in the following chapter. One of the most interesting and
ancient is the famous crown of Khusrau II (reigned 590–638), made in the
latter part of the sixth century, which was brought to light by Shah
Abbas after a thousand years of concealment in an obscure fortress among
the mountains of Lauristan. It does not contain diamonds among its
ornaments, but is incrusted with pearls and rubies.[445]
From the representation given on the cup of Khusrau, the throne of the
Sassanian Persian kings appears to have been as large as a couch; it was
supported by four winged animals, whose model had been borrowed by the
Sassanians from their ancestors, and it was covered with an embroidered
stuff thrown over mattresses and cushions. If we may believe Tabari
(“Chronicles,” trans. by Zotenberg, Vol. II, p. 304), this throne was of
gold, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted by a crown of gold
and pearls, so heavy that the sovereign could not wear it, and therefore
had it suspended above his head.[446]
One of the crowns in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg was discovered in
1864 in a tumulus near Novo-Tcherkask, with many other valuable objects,
all of which had apparently been buried with some important personage.
This crown resembles somewhat that of Reccesvinthus in the treasure of
Guerrazar, although some portions of it seem to belong to the period of
the Roman empire. The conjecture has been made that the crown may have
been worn by a queen since it is decorated with a finely executed bust
of a woman in amethyst. The crown itself is of pure gold, and was
bordered with two rows of pearls, which have disappeared, leaving only
the small disks to which they were attached; besides these, it was
ornamented with a number of uncut precious stones. The date of this
object cannot be exactly determined, although the consensus of opinion
is that it belongs to about the third century after Christ. Possibly the
bust and some other portions, which appear to be of Greco-Roman
workmanship, are of this period, while the rest of the crown was
executed one or two centuries later; it is about seven inches in
diameter and two in height.[447]
Toward the end of the year 1858 a French officer who lived in Spain,
while making some excavations on a property he owned there, discovered
fourteen small gold crowns. They were taken to the Spanish mint and are
said to have been melted for bullion. New excavations on the same spot
brought to light eight other crowns of considerable weight, of the
finest workmanship, and incrusted with precious stones, pearls, etc.
There is no doubt that these crowns were buried in the early years of
the eighth century, when the Arabs, led by Tarik, invaded Spain and
forced the Gothic dynasty to take refuge in the north of Europe. The
importance of this discovery is very great, since it gives us positive
evidence of the development of the goldsmith’s art in Spain at that
early period. An inscription proves that one of the crowns was dedicated
in the second half of the seventh century, and it is one of the few
authentic memorials we possess of that epoch. In February, 1859, the
eight crowns were purchased by the French government and placed in the
Musée de Cluny. Two other crowns found in the same place were added in
1860, and complete the collection.
The largest of these crowns is that of the Gothic king, Reccesvinthus,
who was King of Spain from 649 to 672. It is composed of a wide band of
solid gold, ten centimeters wide and twenty-one centimeters in diameter
(about four and eight inches respectively). This band, which opens by
means of a hinge, is surrounded by two borders of gold set with the red
stones of Caria, called “gemmae alabandenses,” and the band itself is
studded with thirty large oriental sapphires of the greatest beauty.
Thirty fine pearls of appropriate size alternate with the sapphires on a
ground incrusted with the red stones above mentioned. From twenty-three
small gold chains depend large letters in cloisonné, and also incrusted,
forming the sentence: RECCESVINTHUS REX OFFERET. Each letter has a gold
pendant with a pearl from which hangs a pear-shaped sapphire.
The crown is suspended from four chains, converging to a double floral
ornament of solid gold, adorned with twelve sapphire pendants. This
ornament, the leaves of which are open, is surmounted by a capital of
rock crystal, then comes a ball of the same material, and the whole is
terminated by the gold center to which the four chains are attached.
The cross, which is suspended underneath the crown by a gold chain, is
remarkable for its elegance and its richness. It is of solid gold and is
inlaid with six very fine sapphires and eight large pearls, each of
which is mounted in relief with claws. At the back, the cross still
bears the wire by which it was attached to the royal mantle. The inside
of the crown is quite smooth; the outside is composed of elegant
fleurettes in openwork, the leaves being filled with the same species of
red carnelian mentioned above. There are thirty sapphires, all of the
finest water, and a few of them show the natural facetted
crystallization; the two principal ones, placed in the center of the
band, are thirty millimeters in diameter. The pearls are of an
exceptional size, and only a few of them have been injured by time. The
total number on the crown, cross, and top ornament, is seventy, thirty
of which are unusually large. The chains are each composed of five
openwork ornaments with an enamel paste inlaid in the gold edge. A close
examination of the crown shows that it had been worn before the king
presented it to some church.
The royal Hungarian crown given to St. Stephen by the pope in the year
1000 A.D., when Hungary became an empire, is one of the most ancient
crowns in existence. It contains 320 pearls and was procured in
Byzantium. It was pledged to the emperor, Frederick IV, by Queen
Elizabeth of Hungary, probably about 1440.
[Illustration:
CROWN OF RECCESVINTHUS AND OTHER GOTHIC CROWNS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY
From the treasure of Guarrazar, near Toledo
Musée de Cluny, Paris
]
In the cathedral of Prague (the metropolitan church of St. Vitus) there
may be seen the crown which was made by the order of Charles IV (1378)
out of four pounds, ten and a quarter ounces of gold. It is adorned with
twenty-nine pearls, forty-seven rubies, twenty sapphires, and
twenty-five emeralds. The value of the gold and gems was estimated at
$10,000 in 1898, which is probably less than it would be worth to-day.
The sacred crown worn by St. Wenceslaus was inserted within the crown of
Charles IV at the instance of Queen Blanca. The golden scepter and the
golden orb are of very beautiful workmanship. The scepter has six
rubies, eight sapphires, and thirty-one pearls. There may also be seen
in the treasury a gilded monstrance, in the style of the Renaissance,
studded with pearls and precious stones, a gift of the princely family
of Schwarzenberg. Within the same cathedral, in the tabernacle of the
chapel of St. Ludmilla, wife of the first Duke of Bohemia, is the head
of that saint, bearing a crown studded with 1800 pearls.[448]
The crown of Vladimir, with its singular and thoroughly Russian form, is
preserved in the treasury of the Kremlin at Moscow, and has been used at
the coronation of all the Russian emperors. It has borne the name of the
crown or cap of Monomachus from the reign of Ivan IV. Although, to judge
from this designation, the crown was probably executed in the twelfth or
thirteenth century, there is a legend to the effect that it was sent, in
988, from Byzantium by the ruler as a gift to St. Vladimir. It is
executed in filigree work, and is surmounted by a plain cross with four
pearls at the extremities; between these pearls are set a topaz, a
sapphire, and a ruby. The crown itself is ornamented with four emeralds,
four rubies, and twenty-five pearls from Ormus, set in gold. The cap has
a bordering of sable fur, and is lined with red satin. (See Maskell,
“Russian Art,” London, 1884, p. 125.)
The imperial state crown of her Majesty Queen Victoria, was made in the
year 1838 by Messrs. Rondell and Bridge, with jewels taken from old
crowns, and others furnished by command of her Majesty. It consisted of
diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, set in silver and
gold. It had a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and was lined with
white silk. Its gross weight was thirty-nine ounces five pennyweights
troy. The lower part of the band above the ermine border consisted of a
row of 129 pearls, and the upper part of a row of 112 pearls; between
these rows, in the front of the crown, was a large sapphire (partly
drilled) purchased for the crown by his Majesty George IV. In the front
of the crown, and in the center of a diamond Maltese cross, was the
famous ruby said to have been given to Edward, Prince of Wales (the
Black Prince), by Don Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of
Nájera, near Vittoria, 1367 A.D. This ruby was worn in the helmet of
Henry V at the battle of Agincourt, 1415 A.D. It was pierced quite
through, after the eastern custom, the upper part of the piercing being
filled up by a small ruby. From the Maltese cross issued four imperial
arches composed of oak leaves and acorns, thirty-two pearls forming the
acorns. From the upper part of the arches were suspended four large
pendant, pear-shaped pearls with rose diamond cups.[449] Writing in
1850, Barbot, the French jeweler, placed the value of this crown at
$600,000.
The crown of St. Edward, the official crown of England, is used at each
coronation.[450] The original crown of this name was destroyed by the
republicans in 1649, but at the time of the coronation of Charles II,
another crown was made to take its place, under the direction of Sir
Robert Viner. As far as can be known, this crown was an exact copy of
the older one, which was worn by Edward the Confessor, and perhaps even
by King Alfred. The crown in use at present is of gold, richly studded
with pearls and precious stones of various kinds: diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, and sapphires. There is a mound of gold on top, and on this a
cross of gold ornamented with very large oval pearls, one attached to
the top and the two others pendant from the ends of the cross. The
present arrangement of the jewels cannot date back earlier than 1689, as
the crown was found to be despoiled of them at the time of the accession
of William and Mary. Those now in the crown are acknowledged to be
inferior to the former ones.
The orb or mound which is placed in the king’s hand immediately after
his coronation, is a ball of gold, six inches in diameter, surrounded by
a band of the same metal ornamented with roses of diamonds set around
other precious stones, and bordered with pearls. It is surmounted by a
cross, embellished with four larger pearls at the angles near its
center, and three others at the ends. The orb, including the cross, is
eleven inches high, and it is figured on the coins of many of the
English kings, who are represented holding it in their left hands.
The regalia of Scotland,[451] consisting of the crown, scepter, and
sword of state, are preserved in the castle of Edinburgh. It is not
certainly known at what time this crown was executed. At the coronation
of Robert Bruce (1274–1329) a simple circlet of gold was used; this fell
into the hands of the English after the battle of Methven in 1306. In
1307 Edward I issued a pardon at the request of his “beloved Queen
Margarate,” to a certain Galfredus de Coigniers, who was said to have
concealed and kept “a certain coronet of gold with which Robert the
Bruce, enemy and rebel of the King, had caused himself to be crowned in
our own Kingdom of Scotland.”
[Illustration:
Photograph by W. & D. Downey, London
HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ALEXANDRA OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, EMPRESS OF
INDIA
]
Sir Walter Scott, in his account of the regalia, gives it as his opinion
that the present crown was probably made for Robert Bruce at a later
date, and that it was used at the coronation of his son, David II
(1324–1376). The style of workmanship indicates a fourteenth-century
origin. The crown was originally open and was arched over by James V
(1512–1542). As Scott notes, this was done to many royal crowns in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in order to assimilate them to the
type of the old imperial crowns.
The following description is slightly abridged from that given by Sir
Walter Scott:
The lower part consists of two circles, the undermost much broader
than that which rises over it; both are of the purest gold and the
uppermost is surmounted by a range of _fleur-de-lis_ interchanged
with crosses _fleurées_, and with knobs or pinnacles of gold topped
with large pearls; this produces a very rich effect. The under and
broader circle is adorned with twenty-two precious stones, betwixt
each of which is interposed an oriental pearl. The stones are
topazes, amethysts, emeralds, rubies and jacinths; they are not
polished by the lapidary, or cut into facets in the more modern
fashion, but are set plain, in the ancient style of jewellers’ work.
The smaller circle is adorned with small diamonds and sapphires
alternately. These two circles, thus ornamented, seem to have formed
the original Diadem or Crown of Scotland, until the reign of James
V, who added two imperial arches rising from the circle, and
crossing each other, closing at the top in a mound of gold, which
again is surmounted by a large cross _patée_ ornamented with pearls
and bearing the characters J.R.V. These additional arches are
attached to the original crown by tacks of gold, and there is some
inferiority in the quality of the metal.
The bonnet or tiara worn under the crown was anciently of purple,
but is now of crimson velvet, turned up with ermine—a change first
adopted in the year 1695. The tiara is adorned with four superb
pearls set in gold, and fastened in the velvet which appears between
the arches. The crown measures about nine inches in diameter,
twenty-seven in circumference, and about six and a half in height
from the bottom of the lower circle to the top of the cross.
The scepter, made by order of James V at the time he added the arches to
the crown, is a slender silver rod about thirty-nine inches long. An
antique capital of embossed leaves supports three small figures
representing the Virgin Mary, St. Andrew, and St. James, above which is
a crystal ball, surmounted by an oriental pearl.
The regalia have passed through many vicissitudes. After the execution
of Charles I, his son Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone
on January 1, 1651. On the advance of the parliamentary army into
Scotland, the regalia were placed in the care of the Earl Mareschal who
preserved them in his castle of Dunrottar, and here they were kept until
the castle was besieged and on the point of falling into the hands of
the English. In this extremity, they were rescued by Christian Fletcher,
wife of the Rev. James Granger, minister of Kinneff. She obtained
permission from the English general to pay a visit to the Lady Mareschal
and succeeded in carrying off the regalia. Her husband buried them in
the church of Kinneff, just in front of the pulpit. When they were
brought to light again after the Restoration, an Act of Parliament was
passed which, after reciting Christian Fletcher’s services in the
matter, stated: “Therefore, the King’s Majestie, with advice of his
estates in Parliament, doe appoint Two Thousand Merks Scots to be
forthwith paid unto her by his Majestie’s thresaurer, out of the
readiest of his Majestie’s rents, as a testimony of their sense of her
service.”
In 1707, after the union of England and Scotland, it was considered
wiser to remove the regalia from public view, since they were calculated
to arouse memories of the old Scotch monarchy. These precious objects
were therefore inclosed in a chest, which was their usual receptacle,
and locked up in the crown-room, a strong vaulted apartment in Edinburgh
Castle. There the regalia remained until 1817, when, as doubts had been
expressed as to their existence, a commission of investigation was
appointed, one of the members being Sir Walter Scott. The chest—which
had probably been the jewel-safe of the Stuarts—was forced open, and the
regalia were found within, just as they had been deposited in 1707.
An imperial German crown does not exist; a design has been made and
accepted, but at the present date, 1907, it has not yet been executed.
On festive occasions, when the imperial insignia are necessary, the
Prussian insignia are used, especially the Prussian royal crown. This
consists of a circlet of gold set with thirteen diamonds. On this are
five leaves, each composed of three larger diamonds and a smaller one,
and four prongs, each bearing a diamond and above it a large pearl. From
the five leaves start the same number of semicircular arches, tapering
toward the central point, where they unite. Each of these is set with
ten diamonds of decreasing size. On the center rests an imperial globe.
It consists of a large Indian-cut sapphire,—the counterpart of the one
on the Austrian imperial crown, evidently dating from the time of the
Crusades,—and above it rises a chaplet ornamented with diamonds. The
crown has a lining of purple velvet reaching to the arches. Between the
arches are eight pearl pendants of an average weight of 80 grains; they
are 25 millimeters in length, and have a fine, brilliant white color,
although they are not perfectly regular in form.
In addition there belongs to the regalia a pearl necklace of three rows;
the first consists of thirty-seven pearls averaging 28 grains each; the
second of thirty-nine pearls averaging 34 grains, and the third of
forty-five pearls averaging 39 grains. There is also a guard chain of
114 pearls, averaging 20 grains, making a total of 2280 grains for the
chain. These pearls are also of irregular form.[452]
The crown jewels of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz (1830–1876) were of immense
richness and value. At the exhibition in Vienna, 1873, many of these
were exhibited in a building created specially for the purposes of
display and protection. They were in five compartments, in what might be
termed five impregnable fire-proof safes of a peculiar construction.
Among other interesting objects was the armor of Sultan Murad I
(1319–1389), the founder of the Ottoman empire in Europe. This armor is
of the most delicate oriental workmanship. Diamonds, pearls, and rubies
are worked broadcast over it with exquisite taste.[453]
In Germany and Austro-Hungary there are many valuable ecclesiastical
ornaments, some of which possess great interest for the history of early
German art. They also serve to show the appreciation of the pearl even
in the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance period.
One of the most curious productions of early German art is a reliquary
in the form of a sack, which is from Enger near Herford, and is
exhibited in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. It is set with cameos
and pearls; several of the latter have dropped out; a few, however,
remain in their setting. According to a very probable tradition, this
reliquary was given by Charlemagne to the Saxon duke, Wittekind, on the
occasion of his baptism in 785. It is of very rude and primitive
workmanship and, if we accept the tradition, it is not unlikely that it
was executed at Aix-la-Chapelle.[454]
An interesting example of German art, from the time of Archbishop Egbert
of Treves (977–993), is a frame now in the Beuth-Schinkel Museum, at
Charlottenburg. This was probably the framework of a portable altar. It
is decorated with a simple geometrical design in the three primary
colors, and has four polished stones and four pearls on the outer border
of gold filigree. Another example of the art of Treves at the time of
Archbishop Egbert is the Echternacher Codex. The gold-plated cover is a
worthy product of the school: ivory, enamel, and mosaic are combined in
its decoration with rows of pearls. Among the representations of many
saints, appears the figure of the Empress Theophanu, daughter of the
Greek emperor, Romanos II, with the inscription “Theophaniu imp.”
Opposite is a youthful figure, probably that of her son, Otho III. It
seems likely that the work was executed, at the command of the empress,
between 983 and 991.[455]
In the cathedral of Treves is the portable altar known as the altar of
St. Andrew. This was primarily a reliquary and secondarily an altar. In
memory of the relic of the sandal of St. Andrew, which was greatly
prized by Archbishop Egbert, this altar bears the representation of a
foot executed in wood and covered with plates of gold. The front of the
case is divided into three fields; that in the middle containing a
Byzantine lion in gold relief, and the others the symbols of the four
evangelists in enamel work. The border is formed of rectangular pieces
of enamel and smaller ones of gold, and it is set with round stones
alternating with half-pearls; the ends are covered with filigree and
enamel work wherein are embedded strings of pearls. A coin of Justinian
II is set in the middle of the back of the case and is surrounded by a
wreath of larger pearls.[456]
A gold cross, the work of Rogkerus Theophilus, is in the Kunstgewerbe
Museum in Berlin, and comes from Herford. The frame, which is of wood,
is covered with plates of gold; at the extremities and in the center are
groups of precious stones surrounded by pearls; at the base is a fine
Augustan cameo with a wreath of pearls; the entire cross is covered with
filigree work and decorated with pearls in groups of threes. The
arrangement of the precious stones, and the enhancement of their beauty
by means of the circles of pearls, are highly artistic. As a work of
Rogkerus, this cross must have been executed at the very end of the
eleventh century and it may be regarded as one of the finest examples of
the art of this period.[457]
A very rich collection of ecclesiastical ornaments is contained in the
treasury of the cathedral of Gran in Hungary.[458] One of the most
interesting objects is a reliquary in the form of a Latin cross, which
is of great historical and artistic value. An inventory made after 1528
describes it briefly: “crux aurea continens lignum vitae” (a gold cross
containing the wood of life). Although this reliquary probably belongs
to the end of the twelfth century, the inventory of 1659 describes it as
a gift of King Stephen, and proceeds to say that the kings of Hungary
took their coronation oath upon it. This custom has been preserved to
the present day, and Emperor Francis Joseph, on the occasion of his
coronation as King of Hungary, June 8, 1867, swore, upon this cross, to
uphold the constitution and the laws of the land. The cross is decorated
with plates of gold in filigree design, and has four en cabochon cut
sapphires and eighteen oriental pearls.
The greatest treasure of the collection is known as the cross of
Corvinus, King of Hungary, and is decorated with a great number of
pearls.[459] It is a remarkable example of early Italian Renaissance
art. The entire structure is about twenty-eight inches high; the
pedestal is triangular and ornamented with pearls and precious stones;
three sphinxes bearing shields with the arms of Corvinus support a disk
from which springs a triangular support sloping outward; on the three
sides are mythological figures. Upon this base rests the chapel, a light
Gothic structure with the figure of the Saviour bound to a pillar in the
center, and the busts of three prophets in the niches outside. Above all
is the crucifix, on each side of which are figures of the Blessed Virgin
and of St. John. Around the base and about each division of this
elaborate design is a row of pearls; the Gothic chapel is surmounted by
a close-set row, and each of its six pinnacles terminates in an oval
pearl. The cross itself has fifteen large pearls disposed in twos and
threes, and many smaller ones. There are at least two hundred pearls on
the whole structure.
Another cross, with the arms of the primate, George Szolepchényi, and
bearing the date 1667, is of pure design and richly decorated with
pearls and precious stones.[460] It is quite possible that this cross,
which seems to belong to a better period, was bought by the archbishop,
who afterward added his arms. There are thirteen oriental pearls, three
at the top, three at the end of each of the arms, and four at the
intersection. This cross was used as an “instrumentum pacis,” for the
kiss of peace, on solemn occasions such as coronations.
We may also note the pendant with the image of the Virgin Mary as
patroness of Hungary, which is of gold enamel and has two pendant pearls
and a sapphire, and likewise the pectoral cross of the primate, Emerich
Losy; this is of gold, decorated with green, blue, and black enamel, and
has three pendant pear-shaped pearls, one quite large, as well as
thirty-four smaller round pearls.
Among the many valuable and interesting objects in the treasury of the
house and chapel of Maria Loretto am Hradschin,[461] at Prague, there is
a monstrance of silver-gilt, thirty-seven and a half inches high and
fifteen and three quarter inches wide. It dates from the beginning of
the eighteenth century, and is not a harmonious whole, but only a
combination of different ornaments of precious stones, corals, and
several hundred pearls of various sizes. All these are the devotional
offerings of now unknown givers, and many of the pieces are of artistic
workmanship. This monstrance owes its origin to Josef von Bilin, who was
a monk of the Capuchin order and a sacristan of Maria Loretto. On
account of the many pearls which adorn it, it is known by the name of
the “Pearl Monstrance.”
Another monstrance of Arabic gold, of the year 1680, is twenty inches
high and is studded with fifty-one pearls, of which twenty-nine surround
the disk, while the remainder are on the plate and the base. There are
also two crowns of silver-gilt for the statues of the Virgin and of the
Infant Jesus. The larger of these crowns has eighteen diamonds, a ruby,
and 102 pearls set in two rows; while the smaller has nineteen diamonds
and a great number of pearls; both crowns are made up of the offerings
of the faithful.
In a historic description of the pearls in the treasury of the Kremlin,
Margeret, a Burgundian captain (“Estat de l’empire de Russie,” 1649),
says that the treasury was “full of all kinds of jewels, principally
pearls, for they are worn in Russia more than in the rest of Europe. I
have seen fifty changes of raiment for the emperors around each of which
there were jewels for a bordering, and the robes were entirely bordered
with pearls, some with a border of pearls measuring a foot, half a foot,
or four inches in width. I have seen dozens of bed-coverings embroidered
with pearls.”[462]
In the treasury of the celebrated Troiza Monastery near Moscow, there is
an immense collection of ornamental objects for ecclesiastical use, the
value of which has been estimated at many millions of rubles. Here may
be seen miters and bishops’ crooks—many of them of solid gold and set
with precious stones—Bibles and missals in golden bindings, priestly
vestments, altar-cloths, etc., all literally covered with pearls. There
is also a dish filled with large pearls of enormous value.[463]
The use of fresh-water pearls in one of the most interesting
ecclesiastical objects of antiquity is shown in the “Shrine of St.
Patrick’s Gospels,” which is in the Dublin Museum. It was purchased by
the Irish Royal Academy in 1845 for £300 ($1500). This shrine, known as
the “domnach airgid,” is of Irish manufacture and was perhaps made in
the eleventh or twelfth century. It was found in the neighborhood of
Clones, in County Monaghan, and is ornamented with three bosses which
contained uncut crystals, and are decorated with figures of grotesque
animals and traceries enameled in blue paste; between these may be seen
representations of four horsemen. On each of the four corners there was
a fresh-water pearl, one of which still remains in its setting.
According to George Petrie, LL.D., in his “Christian Inscriptions in the
Irish Language,” the shrine bears an inscription to the effect that it
was made by John O’Barrdan at the instance of John O’Carbry, Abbot of
Clones, who died in 1353.
[Illustration:
CROWN OF ST. EDWARD
The official crown of England
]
Dr. R. F. Scharff informs us that there is also in the Dublin Museum a
modern Celtic gold brooch, presented to Queen Victoria on the occasion
of her visit to Ireland in 1849, and containing a pearl of beautiful
luster, discovered in Lough Esk, which is in the western part of
Ireland. Dr. Scharff says that this pearl is undoubtedly from the
_Margaritifera margaritifera_.
Mr. W. Forbes Howie of Dublin writes that the shrine of O’Donnel, made
in 1084, originally contained pearls. It still retains some pieces of
amber and coral. Mr. Howie believes that fresh-water pearls were freely
used in the decoration of ancient Irish shrines.
The inventories of jewels and ornaments belonging to the kings and
queens of France, to the nobility, and to the treasures of the
Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris, and of the abbey and church of St. Denis, all
mention a large number of objects decorated with pearls.[464] The more
important of these are given below.
The following ornaments decorated with pearls are mentioned in the
inventory of Louis, Duke of Anjou, which was made _circa_ 1360:[465]
A large silver-gilt foot for a vase or chalice, resting upon six
lions couchant, and set with groups of four pearls with a garnet in
the middle.
A half girdle of gold with a hinge bearing two ornaments, one a
balas set between two eagles. Between the ornaments is a gold bar
set with eight pearls in two rows. In front is a clasp with a large
sapphire in the middle, surrounded by two balases and two sapphires
alternating with pearls.
A gold brooch having a balas-ruby in the middle, and at each side
four sapphires and four clusters each of five quite large pearls.
A gold brooch of a very pretty design, with five balas-rubies, two
sapphires, and eight very round pearls weighing about four carats
each. At each end of the brooch is a flat pearl weighing about five
carats.
There is in the Bibliothèque Nationale[466] in Paris, the original
record of the execution of the testament of the Comte de Montpensier,
son of the Duc de Berri. This document was written in 1398, and it
mentions that the sale of the jewels and plate of the count produced the
sum of “2390 livres tournois 11 sols 3 deniers [about $8265].” In the
record we have a description of “a large gold cup, weighing 5 marcs, 7
ounces, 1 gros [nearly 3 lbs.], whereon there is a crown of precious
stones.” The decoration of the cup comprised thirty large pearls, six
balas-rubies, and four sapphires, and we are told that the Duc de Berri
retained it for his own use.
An early mention of the use of pearls in rings occurs in the inventory
of the Duc de Berri,[467] to whom we have just referred. This inventory,
which was made in 1416, notes a gold ring with black enamel, set with a
pearl called “the great pearl of Berri.”
The inventory of the personal property of Marguerite, Countess of
Flanders, the mother of the Duke of Burgundy, was made in 1405.[468] In
this inventory we have a list of an immense number of ornamental objects
of every sort and kind, and everything, from the ducal crown to the
smallest trinket, is garnished with pearls. In most cases the number of
pearls is given, and we find that no less than 4494 are enumerated.
Evidently the duchess was ever ready to honor the precious gem to which
she owed her name, and fully recognized its poetical significance. The
following are a few of the more noteworthy ornaments in the inventory:
The circlet of the great crown, composed of eight sections; four of
which each comprise sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four
balas-rubies, with a sapphire in the center; the four others contain
sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four sapphires, with a balas-ruby
in the center; beside this there are two pearls in each section.
Also, eight large fleurons of the great crown, four of which bear
each twenty-three pearls, five diamonds, three balas-rubies and a
sapphire, and the other four each twenty-three pearls, five
diamonds, four sapphires, and a balas-ruby; and eight small fleurons
of the said crown garnished each with a pearl, a sapphire, and a
balas-ruby. The whole is valued at 8724 florins ($22,682).
A gold cap with ten large ornaments fashioned like brooches, five of
which are each of six pearls and a balas-ruby, and the other five
each of five pearls and two balas-rubies, and between each ornament
there is a balas-ruby. This is appraised at 2159 florins ($5613).
A head-dress garnished with balas-rubies and sapphires and tassels
of large pearls, each of six pearls, and with a row of larger
balas-rubies, larger sapphires and larger pearls. This was estimated
at 2030 florins ($5278).
A gold necklace, enameled white and green, garnished with nine
rubies, thirteen diamonds and thirteen pearls, with a clasp of three
small rubies, and three large pearls with one large diamond in the
center. The worth of this necklace is given as 1923 florins ($5000).
The jewels and ornamental objects in this inventory are appraised at
the sum of 56,129 florins,—about $145,000,—equivalent to a much
larger sum to-day in consideration of the greater purchasing power
of money in the fifteenth century.
In 1480, during the reign of Louis XI, an inventory was made of the
objects preserved in the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.[469]
We select the following items from this inventory: