Pearls in History
History of Pearl Formation
Many cultures throughout history have speculated on how pearls are created. If you were born in ancient Greece, you have heard that pearls are created when lightning
hits at sea. If you're Roman, you believe that pearls are the tears of the gods, unless you're well educated, in which case you know the truth. If you're from the
Middle East, you are told that it happens when an oyster rises to the surface of the ocean and swallows a drop of dew in the moonlight. If you're from the Far East,
you'd have heard that pearls are dragon's blood fallen to the earth while they do battle in the air. And if were born in the 20th century, you've grown up hearing it
happens when a grain of sand gets trapped in an oyster. The truth is that natural pearls are most often formed when a parasite borrows inside an oyster or mussel.
The pearl kills the parasite and surrounds it in nacre in order to protect it's own body from the foreign invader. Alternately, they're formed intentionally, or "cultured",
by shoving a small piece of mother of pearl into the reproductive organs of the mollusk.
Ancient History
Pearls are first seen historically in Eurasia and North Africa, there is no evidence of African interest in pearls south of the Sahara. They were in widespread use
in Western Asia in 300BCE. Persia was next to value pearls, and exported them to the Mediterranean Region in 500 BCE. Ancient Egypt seemed to have little interest in
pearls until the rise of the Persian Empire in 600BCE. Over the next few hundred years pearls were used as status symbols and were horded like gold, and inherited
by multiple generations. Greek and Roman writers often spoke of pearls. The New Testament, the Talmud and Syriac Christian writing all reference pearls as
spiritually pure and precious.
World Use
Pearls became the most common gemstone in all of Europe after Rome supplanted Greece in power. Women wore them most commonly as earrings, then finger rings, necklaces,
bracelets, and even on the laces of their sandals and covering their shoes. Sumptuary Laws were enacted by Julius Caesar limiting pearls to use by very specific upper
classes. Pearls embellished clothing and even sofas. Extraordinary specimens often decorated the statues of the gods and goddesses, especially Venus. From 400BCE to
600CE, Romans used their wealth and political power to acquire a large percentage of the world's pearls, coming from India, Sri Lanka and the Mediterranean. Large
pearls were incredibly costly. Historians say the Roman General Vitellus financed an entire military campaign through the sale of a single pearl from his mother's ear.
Cleopatra famously bet Mark Anthony that she could serve the most expensive meal in history, and during the meal she took a pearl from her earring and swallowed it,
after which he admitted defeat. It's believed her pearl was worth 80,000 Roman Pounds of Gold. Pearls were one of the possible reasons Caesar invaded Britain in 55BCE,
and Brittish Pearls were traded widely, even making their way to Pompeii.
Europe 400BCE - 600CE
As the Roman Empire declined in the 4th Century, power shifted to the Byzantine Empire which was based in Constantinople and stretched from Asia Minor to Macedonia,
around the Mediterranean, including Egypt. Byzantium traded for pearls from Rome and all the while more pearls were being harvested in Asia, allowing Byzantine rulers
to be even more extravagant that the Romans. Byzantine rulers wore pearl diadems, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Robes and even bed canopies were covered in pearls.
Pearls were often paired with colored gemstones, including sapphires, emeralds and rubies. Byzantine earrings were 12cm long and strung with pearls and jewels.
Necklaces and bracelets were open gold-work inset with pearls. Pearls were very often used in Religious art and paraphernalia as well. The church had access to even
more pearls than the nobility, and used them thickly. Western Europe was in turmoil at the time, but even so pearls were available to high nobility, who often donated
pearls to the Church in the hopes of gaining eternal salvation.
Byzantine Empire 400CE - 1200CE
The Crusades in the 12th and 14th centuries renewed interest in Pearls in the West as trade routes opened and travelers, including Marco Polo, brought back Byzantine
jewelry and relics, and stories of Eastern nobility draped in pearls. 13th Century sumptuary laws kept anyone but the upper classes and nobility from wearing pearls.
Pearls continued to be seen as pure and were used medicinally for everything from heart attacks to depression.
Medieval Ages
Late Medieval Europe found marine pearls from India and the Persian Gulf, and were sold at fairs throughout Europe, but centered in Venice. The word "pearl" and
variants was used in all major European languages, replacing the earlier latin word "Margarita." Freshwater pearls were harvested in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France,
Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Spain, Scandinavia, and Russia. Not as lustrous, but availability locally and through the aristocracy, churches, and monasteries who owned
the fishing rights. Marine and Freshwater pearls were banned from being put in the same piece of jewelry or art to keep from confusing the two. Imitation pearls were
tolerated but only if sold as such, punishment if you broke the law included loss of a hand and ten years exile.
Renaissance - 16th - 17th Centuries
During the Renaissance pearls were available like never before from India, Persian Gulf through new Portuguese maritime trade routes. Pearls were also found in the
Americas. Lisbon and Seville replace Venice as the center of pearl commerce. Lisbon traded pearls from the Persian Gulf and India, Seville from the West Indies. High
class women of good reputation were expected to wear ropes of pearls during this time period, and wherever it was permitted by law middle class women. Pearls were made
into hair ornaments, collars, chain, pendants, necklaces, head wear, girdles and rings. Large irregular shaped pearls were worked into broaches in the shape of fantastic
creatures like mermen, dragons, and unicorns. Sea themes were most popular. Queen Elizabeth wore pearls anywhere she could fit them, wordlessly communicating her purity
and virginity. Men also wore pearls in her Court. Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester wore a necklace of pearls and clusters of them on his Doublet. Sir Walter Raleigh
and Sir Francis Drake often wore pear shaped pearl earrings. Pearls were so in demand that the pearl beds in the Americas were nearly entirely depleted by 1681. Laws
were enacted to protect them, and ignored.
Summary & Suggestions
As time passed and more pearls were first imported from the East, and harvested from local sources in Western Europe, and then eventually the
Americas, more and more were worn on each person. Pearls were a wordless statement of wealth and purity of heart and spirit. If you take into account your persona's
time period and distance from the Mediterranean and Trade Routes, and choose the number of pearls you wear based on that information, you won't go wrong. Early in Period
with Byzantine fashion being popular up through the 12th Century, if you wear large rice shaped pears as earrings you'll be making a safe bet, or a short necklace of
pearls possibly with other simply cut gems or gold beads. On a brooch, gold-work, colored gems and inset pears are period. Later, but seen as early as 500CE, tear drop
pearls were more popular, first as earrings and later in 1000CE hanging from pendants or brooches. Pearls were worn in the hair throughout history, often inset in gold.
Bracelets made up of a string of pearls are seen less often, but still are appropriate in period. Even just weaving a string of pearls through a woman's hair is period
starting in 1200CE.
Making Pearl Jewelry
If you're stringing your own pearls, they should always be knotted in order to keep them from rubbing against each other and damaging the nacre. Pearls are best stored
in a soft cloth, away from anything that might scratch them. They cannot be cleaned in an Ultrasonic cleaner, as they will shatter. They may be washed in very mild soapy
water, but don't use any commercial cleaners. They can become discolored and brittle if left in a dry area. If you put them in a safe, place a glass of water in with
them. Or, do as medieval women did, and have your servants occasionally wear them around the house.
Rules for Jewelry in Period
People often think of Princesses wearing many layered draping necklaces, but I haven't seen that in Western Europe accept in Queen Elizabeth's time, and then only rarely.
Silver is rarely used in jewelry except in Egyptian and Viking Culture, otherwise gold is most common. Gold enamel is also very period throughout the Mediterranean and
Western Europe. Very simple facets are also acceptable. Cabochons are more common, but not all gems were roughly cut. Table cut gems are fairly safe to use in nearly
any culture, as are simply shaped gems. Cameos followed a similar timeline as pearls, with a popularity in the Roman Empire, a resurgence after the Crusades, and another
in the Renaissance.
Pearl Bibliography
About
This information was compiled by Odette de Noulay in preparation for a class titled "Pearls in Period," first given to the Shire of Owl's Nest in 2008.