Monday, January 16, 2017

Pearls

Brooch
Western Europe
ca. 1830
silver, gold, diamonds, emeralds, ruby, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

PEARL  A nacreous concretion formed within the shell of various bivalve molluscs around some foreign body (e.g. a grain of sand) composed of filmy layers of carbonate of lime interstratified with animal membrane; it is of hard smooth texture, of globular, pear-shaped, oval or irregular form, and of various colors, usually white or bluish-gray; often having a beautiful lustre, and hence highly prized as a gem; formerly also used in medicine.

1698  John Fryer. A New Account of East India and Persia.
The Pearl is a Jewel supposed to be the Geniture of a shell-fish . . . congealed into a very fair, transparent, Diaphanous, beautiful Stone.

1774  Oliver Goldsmith. A History of the Earth and Animated Nature.
Whether pearls be a disease or an accident in the animal is scarce worth enquiry.

1846  Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Letters Addressed to R.H. Horne.
All your kindness is pure, entire, pearl-like for roundness and completeness.

1879  Edward Dowden. Life of Robert Southey.
It is October that brings most often those days faultless, pearl-pure, of affecting influence.  

– definition and citations, Oxford English Dictionary

Earrings
England
ca. 1850
colored gold, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Necklace
England
ca. 1850
colored gold, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Ring
England
ca. 1810-20
gold, diamonds, emeralds, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Earrings
France
ca. 1860-70
enameled-gold, diamonds, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Brooch
France
1855
enameled-gold, garnets, emeralds, rubies, amethysts, pearls, glass beads
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Earrings
Italy
ca. 1820-67
gold, pearls, garnets
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Earrings
Hungary
ca. 1700
enameled silver-gilt, emeralds, garnets, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
Western Europe
late 16th century
enameled-gold, emerald, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
The Canning Jewel
ca. 1800-1860
enameled gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
Western Europe
late 16th century
gold, ruby, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
Western Europe
ca. 1700
gold, silver, diamonds, pearl
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Cloak Clasp
Henry Wilson, England
ca. 1914
enameled-gold, sapphires, emeralds, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Brooch
John Donald, England
1969
gold, pearl
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

I am grateful to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for the excellent images.