Brief history of Pearl Jewellery by Danila Tarcinale FIPG
“Pearls are most possibly the oldest gems known to man, perhaps because no shaping or cutting is needed to reveal their beauty”.
Their first appearance as a treasured form of adornment has been noted from Egyptian, Greek and Roman times.
During the transition from pagan to Christian beliefs in Western Europe, pearls became most frequently used for adornment in churches and iconography rather than personal use. Due to the change in burial rites, only a few examples of pearls used for personal adornment have survived from this period, as Christians were not buried with all their jewellery like the earlier polytheistic Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.
During this period Pearls were also used for their Mystical, Medicinal and healing properties. However pearls were also considered to signify purity, innocence, humility, and hope of the Kingdom of Heaven. The mystical and medicinal interest in the properties of pearls continued from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Arabian doctors dissolved pearls in vinegar or lemon juice to create “aqua perlata”. Both Hindus and Taoists believed that pearls had the power to perpetuate youth.
In the Late Middle Ages crusaders brought back pearls and a taste for adornment, so fine jewels become a definite mark of rank legally restricted to the nobility. Later on, pearls became more abundant due to the strengthening of Italian trading cities with Eastern markets and Goldsmiths were forbidden to use “oriental” (saltwater) and “river” (freshwater) pearls in the same piece.
In the 1300s in the French courts, jewellery, clothes and furnishings became richly and intricately decorated with pearls.
During the Renaissance, New World exploration resulted in the discovery of vast quantities of saltwater pearls. In one year, over 320 kg (700 lbs) were taken to Spain.
In this opulent era pearls and pearl jewellery became extremely popular in Europe where the powerful and wealthy found any opportunity to display their status, surrounding themselves with extravagant jewellery and ornaments.
Gradually, the Renaissance’s opulence began to fade in the 17th century due to religious and political problems in Western Europe. During this period Goldsmiths were creating pearl pendants with bizarre and grotesque figures using baroque pearls. Meanwhile the New World become hostile to exploitation as there was little money to spare for expeditions. Many European governments tried to create laws to curb the excesses of the nobility, regulating how much and what type of jewellery could be worn by certain people as well as being more restrictive with the rising middle class. The wearing of certain jewels was restricted. Women were only allowed to wear necklaces of uniformly shaped stones, beads, or pearls, or a simple pearl pendant. Despite these restrictions, the European nobility continued to indulge in as much jewellery as they possibly could. Pearl-studded hat ornaments were very popular with Spanish noblemen of this period. However, due to severe economic stresses European governments and the nobility were forced, often through violence, to acknowledge the needs and rights of the lower classes, and overt displays of wealth became less advisable.
During the Neoclassical period designs were simpler and more flowing in comparison to the opulent display of the previous century. Jewellery was kept at a minimum and for special occasions. The size of pearls became smaller, coming from China in the form of Seed pearls.
With the start of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s, towns like Hanau in Germany transformed from workshops serving the local communities to large scale export companies. Hanau was a “free town” and there were no applicable hallmarking Guild Rules to obey.
During the high Victorian period, Pearl jewellery came back in fashion and more seed pearls and freshwater pearls were used in mourning jewellery where pearls represented tears.
The new middle class acquired more disposable income so women of all ages began to wear more jewellery. Pearls started to be incorporated into many items of jewellery for everyday wear. For evening, pearls were woven in the hair, and new forms of hair adornment became fashionable. Men wore pearls as well, set in gold with mother-of-pearl or onyx as shirt studs and cuff links and tie-pins.
At the end of the 19th century several types of jewellery were in fashion which were a reaction to the standardisation of the industrial revolution. Based on the Renaissance concept of individual craftsmanship preserved within a professional community or guild, they were referred to as the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art
Nouveau. They were disdained by nobility as being too decadent and mainly worn by the middle class who enjoyed displaying their wealth in their jewellery. In those days pearls were still considered rarer and were more expensive than diamonds and were worn profusely.
Later on Queen Victoria’s eldest son Edward and his wife Alexandra became the trend-setters of the wealthy upper class and nobility of Europe, inspiring a style of Pearl Fashion jewellery which was subsequently called Edwardian. Much lighter mounts were used due to increased gold price, contrasting the earlier Victorian look.
During the Art Deco Period, the start of World War I and the onset of the Russian Revolution began a period of radical change in Europe and the Western World. Speed and modernity became dominating concepts on the 1920’s
The stiff geometric patterns of Art Deco were a stark contrast the former period, but were softened by combining them with pearls. Men and women were carrying cigarette cases embellished with Egyptian designs often made with mother of pearl.
Seed pearls were woven into beaded evening bags embellished with gold clasps set with mother of pearl or gemstones.
When cultured pearls appeared on the market in the 1920s it created confusion with pearl consumers and subsequently caused devaluation and decline in popularity of natural pearls.The Great Depression of the 1930s curtailed spending on jewellery and other luxuries for many years. World War II exhausted and polluted Oriental pearl fisheries. Post war Japan concentrated on enlarging their cultured pearl industry.
Nowadays fine-quality natural pearls are still very rare and very highly valued.
Pearls continue to inspire the fashion industry and large quantities of lower-priced cultured pearls have made these treasured items available to virtually all consumers.High-fashion jewellery designers create an amazing variety of pearl jewellery and these days it’s even re-gaining popularity for men.
