The portraits of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries afford us many interesting evidences regarding the various forms of jewelry in which pearls were used. Indeed, had we no other records, these pictures alone would prove the great popularity of the gem as an ornament.

In the finely executed portrait of the Duchess Anne de France, she wears a coronet with three pearls at each point. It seems to be made up of three large pearls, set on a row of pearls circling the entire top of her head, beneath which is a row of great emeralds, and then another row of pearls. Flaring downward and entirely covering the side of her head near the ear, are two rows of pearls with a row of fine emeralds between them, the rows of pearls deflecting slightly downward until the chin line is reached, and then turning back and slightly upward, meeting at the back. As in the crown cap, the same severe decoration in pearls is the main feature, and is repeated on each side of the robe, the front of which is of ermine. Beginning on a line with the shoulder is a broad band of pearls and emeralds set in gold which extends below her waist. At the top of this are six pearls set in a straight line. Then from the end of this line, dropping straight down, is a row on each side. Between the two rows is a gem, then two great pearls and another gem, then two more pearls, this being repeated to below the waist. The ermine is held at her waist by a trefoil reversed; that is, two pearls above and one below a great gem, and then a trefoil reversed below this. This portrait is dated 1498 and is on a triptych in the cathedral of Moulins.

Quite unique is the pearl decoration in a picture of St. Barbara, painted by an artist of the French school, and dated 1520, which is in the National Museum of Budapest. This artist uses pearls with the utmost severity of taste and richness. Beginning a trifle above the center of her forehead is an emerald ornament, and on each side there extend to the back of her head three rows of pearls, not placed exactly one row above the other, but the rows intertwined with each other. The whole is enriched by a great string of pearls about her neck. The effect produced is extremely artistic and beautiful.

Catharine de’ Medici wore two rows of pearls on her bonnet, and a quaint necklace in sections of two rows of four pearls, with a large pearl between; a pear-shaped pendant on a Renaissance jewel; a row of pearls around her low-cut bodice, and a girdle of jewels alternating with pearls, which extended to the lower end of her gown. In addition to all this, she wore a bracelet of jewels with a pearl set between each ornament. This artistic combination is best shown in her portrait in the Uffizi, Florence (No. 726), painted by an unknown artist.

One of the most unique, rich, and chic collections of pearls, and one worn with unusual grace, is that of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, shown in the fine portrait of her by Coello Sanchez. In this portrait her hat shows the plumes embroidered with slanting rows of three, four, and five pearls. In the center of the hat is an ornament shaped like a flower, with seven large pearl petals surrounding a great pearl center. The hat is tilted to one side showing her hair on the left, while a little to the right of the center of her forehead, and touching it, there hangs from her hair a great pear-shaped pearl, which adds a wonderful amount of character to the jeweling of her head. Around her neck is a high fluted ruff; below which is a collar of large gems relieved by an ornament of two pearls placed between each gem. The same interesting motive is carried out in a girdle of gems which comes down very low to her waist, terminating in a large jeweled heart ornament. The painting shows sixteen remarkable pearls in the collar, and thirty-six pearls in the jeweled girdle.

A very interesting collection of portraits was exhibited last spring (1907) at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The pictures are contained, in some instances, in old illuminated manuscripts, while in others they are contemporary crayon sketches. Many pearl decorations are represented, and we give a few of the most important.

The portrait of Anne de Bretagne (1476–1514), wife of Louis XII, from the “Heures d’Anne de Bretagne,” illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, represents the queen kneeling; she wears a collar ornamented with groups of four pearls alternating with precious stones.

A crayon sketch of Françoise de Foix, Comtesse de Châteaubriant (1490–1537), who became the mistress of Francis I, shows her wearing a hood or coif ornamented with forty oval pearls. She also wears a necklace of sixty fine round pearls.

Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), granddaughter of Charles VII and Agnes Sorel, is represented with a head-dress similar to that worn by the Comtesse de Châteaubriant . It has a border of sixty round pearls. This crayon is of the time of Jean Clouet.

A portrait of Philip Strozzi (1541–1582) who, although an Italian, had the rank of colonel-général in the French army, is interesting as an illustration of the wearing of earrings by the men of this period. The fine round pearl which hangs from his ear strikes us now as a curious ornament for a warrior.

A crayon sketch of Gabrielle d’Estrées (d. 1599), mistress of Henri IV, is attributed to the hand of Daniel Dumonstier. Here may be seen a splendid pearl necklace, which apparently consists of six sections, each comprising three rows of eight round pearls, the sections being connected with each other by a large oval pearl. The necklace, which hangs down over the bosom, is fastened by a clasp in the form of a four-leaved clover, from which depend two other sections similar to those described above, and terminating in an oval pearl pendant.

The portrait of the Duchesse de Montpensier (1627–1693), the “Grande Mademoiselle” of Mme. de Sévigné’s letters, is from the “Maximes de nostre salut,” dedicated to the duchess by the author, M. de la Serre, and is attributed to Nicolas Jarry. It represents the duchess wearing a beautiful necklace of round pearls and a large pear-shaped pearl earring, while another pear-shaped pearl depends from a clasp which serves to loop up her fichu on the shoulder.

A fine example of the Renaissance style existing in the sixteenth century is that of a gold and enamel necklace of Italian workmanship, embellished with pearls. This necklace was presented to the Louvre Museum by Don A. de Rotschildt. The two-pearl motive is carried out exquisitely, two pearls appearing in a small connecting ornament between two larger enameled and engraved gold plaques, which represent scenes from the life of our Saviour.

At the exposition of 1900 there was shown in the Russian Pavilion, a most interesting collection of jewelry of decidedly oriental character, dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. These jewels were said to have belonged to the Emir of Bokhara. They differed slightly from the East Indian in character, and generally consisted of combinations of pearls, rubies, and emeralds, the three colors of these gems predominating. One of the most interesting of the necklaces, acquired by J. Gelatley, Esq., shows an arrangement of the pearls which is peculiarly attractive and decorative.

The heraldic significance of pearls has at times been very important. While in the eighteenth century the crowns of the French nobles were surmounted with silver points, it appears that in the sixteenth century they were provided with pearl points. According to Rudolphus,^[477] the dukes wore a leaf crown of eight leaves, with or without as many commingled pearl points; the marquises a crown of four leaves with twelve pearl points, or with four groups of three pearls set one over the other; and the counts, a pearl crown which sometimes had four pearls in each corner, one above the other. The viscounts wore a gold ring set with four pearls, and the barons a gold ring entwined with pearls.

The same is true of the English coronets. Instead of the pearls which they bore at an earlier period, silver balls are now used on those of the English barons, viscounts, earls, and marquises. This change probably owed its origin to the desire on the part of the sovereigns to confine the official use of pearls and other precious stones to themselves. The rules at the coronation of Edward VII forbade the use of pearls except as a special royal privilege. The earl’s coronet has eight balls raised on points, with gold strawberry leaves between the points. The marquis wears one with four gold strawberry leaves and four silver balls alternating, the latter raised above the rim.^[478]

A pearl and gold ring, formerly belonging to Washington, is now in the possession of Vice-Chancellor E. B. Learning, of Camden, N. J. It bears in the center a lock of Washington’s hair under a conical glass, around which is a setting of blue and white enamel with a square of red at each corner. The whole is surrounded by a circle of thirteen pearls. This ring was presented by Washington to Lieutenant Richard Somers prior to the latter’s departure on the expedition against the Algerine pirates in Tripoli, in the course of which he lost his life. Before his departure he left the ring with his sister, Sarah Keen. Vice-Chancellor Leaming’s paternal grandmother inherited it as heir to Somers’s estate, and from her it descended successively to her son and grandson. The lock of Washington’s hair is admitted to be one of only three now existing, of the other two, one is at Washington’s headquarters at Newburg and the other in the museum at Boston. The ring was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in 1876.

And what a wealth of pearls was seen at the marriage of the late Emperor Frederick III of Germany with Princess Victoria, in 1858! The wedding gift of the bridegroom consisted of a necklace of thirty-six enormous pearls, three superb ones in the middle, and graduated in size toward the ends. From her mother, Queen Victoria, the bride received a diamond necklace and three massive brooches set with unusually large pearls; and from Prince Albert, a magnificent hair-net of pearls, diamonds, and emeralds. The king and queen of Prussia presented a diadem of brilliants surrounded with a splendid circlet of pearls. On the day of her entry into Berlin, the queen bestowed on the bride a costly brooch of pearls and diamonds, representing a bouquet, the leaves of which consisted of diamonds, while the flowers themselves were of pear-shaped pearls of large size, one weighing 160 grains, and fourteen of them weighing 600 grains together.

One of the most splendid and best known collection of pearls, and one worn with as much grace as any in Europe, consists of those owned by the dowager Queen Margherita of Italy, whose name signifies pearl, and who has always been fond of the ocean jewel. Her husband, King Humbert, made her many presents of this regal gem. A photograph, signed by the queen and sent to us for this volume by her gracious courtesy, shows her wearing her magnificent twelve strings of pearls, a pearl bracelet, and a pearl tiara with pear-shaped pearl tips.

At the coronation of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, beside her coronation crown, the latter wore many of her richest and most beautiful jewels. These consisted of seven immense rows of pearls, each twenty-four to thirty inches in length, hanging below five large neck circlets of diamonds and a great corsage ornament which covered her entire bodice; and beneath part of this was a splendid ornament of diamonds with large, pear-shaped pearls.

A careful study of the decorations conferred by potentates and governments shows that the pearl is rarely used in the ornamentation of these marks of distinction. A notable exception is that given by the Siamese government. This decoration is known as the nine-jewel Siamese decoration, and bears a large center pearl. It is only conferred on nine members of the royal Siamese family, including his Majesty the King of Siam. The central pearl represents the king and the eight other jewels surrounding it the members of his family. It is strange that Siam should find so much significance in white, as is illustrated by the white elephant, and also by the use of the white pearl for this order.

The Order of Christ, the chief Portuguese order, has a long cross enameled in bright red surcharged with a white cross and bordered with fine pearls. The effect is both striking and beautiful.

The order of the crown of India is a jeweled badge with a device composed of the imperial cipher, E. R. and I., in diamonds, pearls, and turquoises, set within a border of pearls and surmounted by the imperial crown.^[479]

A remarkable pearl necklace was recently the subject of litigation in England. It was the property of the late Duchess of Sermonata, an Englishwoman who married an Italian. She was a daughter of the late Lord Howard de Walden, one of the wealthiest of the English nobility. The duchess was in the habit of investing all her spare cash in pearls, and it seems that she chose a very good form of investment, since pearls have increased in value to a greater extent even than diamonds during the same period. Of the ten rows of which this necklace consisted, six were deposited for safekeeping in a London bank and the other four were in Florence at the time of the death of the duchess. She had bequeathed the gems at the bank to her niece, Miss Henrietta Ellis, and had left directions that, if her pearl necklace was in London when she died, it should be sent to her Italian executors. All the jewels are now claimed by these executors, while Miss Ellis contends that it was the intention of the duchess to leave to her the pearls in the hands of the London bankers. The necklace consisted at one time of ten rows; the first, thirteen and a half inches long, comprised forty-one pearls; the second, fourteen inches in length, thirty-nine pearls; the third, fourteen and a half inches, forty-three pearls; the fourth, seventeen inches, forty-seven pearls; the fifth, seventeen and a half inches, forty-nine pearls; the sixth, nineteen and a half inches, fifty-five pearls; the seventh, twenty-one inches, sixty-six pearls; the eighth, twenty-three and a half inches, seventy pearls; the ninth, twenty-six inches, eighty-two pearls; the tenth, twenty-nine and a half inches, ninety-one pearls. The total number of pearls is 583, and the necklace is valued at $150,000.

A widely advertised necklace of large size was shown in the English section of the Paris Exposition of 1900. This necklace consisted of forty-six pearls weighing 1596 grains, and was valued at $450,000. It was loaned by an English gentleman now dead, and was returned to him at the close of the exposition and later dispersed.

In regard to the possession of pearls by families in the United States, we may safely say that there is not a letter in the alphabet under which we cannot find the names of from one to a dozen families, owning single strings or collections from the value of $10,000 to $200,000, or even more. If one is a wearer of jewels, pearls are an absolute necessity; indeed, they are as essential and indispensable for the wealthy as are houses, horses, and automobiles. At no period in the world’s history have pearls been more widely distributed; and some of those of to-day are finer in quality and orient, and also more carefully matched, than those in the great collections of the past. Of course there are exceptions, where royal personages have been careful observers and have used good taste, but it is a question whether there have ever been more critical or better buyers, as far as selection is concerned, than are many American men and women who have purchased this gem.

One of the largest pearl necklaces in the United States is in the possession of an American lady. There are perhaps thirty pearls in the necklace, weighing in all about 1400 grains; the largest pearl weighs nearly 120 grains. There is also one of 75 grains and one of 70 grains, the others graduating down to 20 grains.

With increasing wealth, and a demand for rich rather than gaudy or showy jewelry, there is nothing that commends itself so highly as the pearl, which acts as a foil to the diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire, and at the same time harmonizes with them and in fact with all the colored stones. The true pearl, as it increases in size and beauty, becomes proportionately more rare and costly; and yet it differs from other jewels in the fact that they are mined in the depths of the earth, and their existing quantity is speculative, while the home of the pearl is much more accessible, and it is possible to make an estimate of the number of pearls in course of growth. Pearls, however, are forming all the time, while other gems are perhaps to-day as they were ages before the advent of man. Nevertheless, even if pearls were cultivated as they should be, and people cared for the mollusks as the oyster-gatherer does for his crop—by planting it, guarding it and gathering it systematically—still, the ever-increasing demand would more than balance the greater supply. As we have said, at no time since pearls were worn have they enjoyed such favor; and while they have always increased in value, this increase has never been so rapid as in the past ten years. They are jewels which can be worn by young or old, and which adapt themselves to every fabric that man or woman can use for attire; whether they are white, gray, or black, they are never obtrusive, but always have a refining effect. Round as the globe upon which we live, they will probably be worn and appreciated as long as life exists upon this sphere.

It is interesting to note the change of taste and the difference of opinion, at various epochs, in regard to the respective merits of pear-shaped and round pearls. In the Roman period the pear-shaped pearls were more highly valued; in the eighteenth century round pearls were esteemed the more valuable, while at the present day they are both on about the same basis.

With the progressive twentieth century taste for independence in fashion, our modern ladies take from every epoch what they think will best suit their superrefined beauty. Therefore we are not surprised to find in their jewel-cases the long earrings and large brooches adorned with seed-pearls, similar to those worn by their grandmothers of the early Victorian period. Although these jewels cannot be considered very beautiful according to the artistic standard of to-day, they, nevertheless, lend to their wearers a certain quaint dignity and piquancy which is very attractive.

As an instance of modern pearl-wearing by a lady of the present century, we may note a portrait in which there is a simple necklace of large pearls; over this a collar of twenty-three rows of pearls with a diamond centerpiece, and to relieve the severity, a sautoir, which is made up of alternate pearls and diamonds, and pearl earrings. No better illustration can be given than the portrait of Señora Carmen Romero Rubio de Diaz, wife of President Porfirio Diaz of Mexico, which, by her courtesy, we are able to figure.

The gathering of a great necklace is not the work of a day; it often requires many years. Such necklaces are frequently held for a long time by dealers or by a number of people who are interested in their sale, and whenever one or more pearls can be purchased which form a better graduation or which are of better color or more perfect, they are usually purchased to improve the necklace if the price is a proper one.

In the early sixties, when most American women aspired to owning a pair of diamond earrings, it was not uncommon for ladies to start with a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, or a thousand-dollar pair, and, for a dozen years to come, to add an annual sum of one hundred, two hundred or five hundred dollars to increasing the size of these by exchanging them with the dealer at the cost price and paying the difference between the value of the pair that had been purchased and that of the new pair. In this way ladies who never would have thought of spending five thousand dollars for a pair of earrings, virtually made a savings-bank of the jewels. This is frequently done with pearls. A small necklace or a few pearls will be purchased; these are added to annually or at such times as the owner may have spare savings or gifts to invest. It is not uncommon for a family to buy a pearl for a daughter on her first birthday, and each succeeding year add one pearl to this, so that she may first wear one pearl, then two, then three, and by the time the young lady makes her début in society, a good start has been made toward a pearl necklace. It was the custom of King Humbert of Italy to present his queen, Margherita, with one fine pearl every year, and with this succession of annual gifts she possessed one of the finest collections in Europe.

In the portraits of the four daughters of the present Czarina of Russia, the Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Olga, Maria, and Anastasia, we can see that their pearl necklaces were built up gradually, as that of the eldest daughter is notably longer than those of her younger sisters. These pearls were annual gifts from the Czar and Czarina and from others of the imperial family.

There are few ornaments worn by man or woman that have not at one time or another been bepearled, either with large or small pearls, with one pearl or many pearls, with pearls of high or low degree, and no object is ever made the less rich by the addition of the peerless gem of the ocean depths.

As the prices of pearls have increased, naturally the single objects containing them have also become more costly. It is not unusual to see rings with pearls each costing from $5000 to $10,000, $20,000, and even $30,000 and over, the pearls not infrequently being in button form.

Rings are occasionally made up of one white and one black oriental pearl, and if a pink one is combined with these, it is either a fresh-water or a conch pearl. Such rings sell for $5000, $8000, $10,000 and $15,000 each.

Pendant pearls, either round, ovate, drop, or pear-shaped, sell from $5000 to $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, and even $100,000.

The prices for one or two choice pearls worn for the adornment of a man’s shirt-front are $2000, $3000, $5000, and even $10,000.

In link buttons, slightly ovate, button or round pearls are used, the link being made up of one white and one black pearl, costing $2000, $3000, $5000, and even $20,000 a set.

It is not unusual for a man to wear a scarf-pin set with a round, ovate, or pear-shaped pearl costing $2000, $5000, $10,000, $15,000, and even $30,000.

For men’s scarf-pins, a variety of colors are frequently selected, such as a white oriental, a pink American, a pink conch, or a gray and black oriental pearl.

Single pearl necklaces sell for $1000, $2000, $5000, $8000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, and $500,000 necklaces are not unknown.

Tiaras sell for $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, and $100,000.

Waistcoat buttons, sometimes made up of baroque pearls, cost from $200 to $500; sometimes, however, when fine pearls are used, the price paid for a set of five or six buttons is as high as $10,000.

It is scarcely possible to mention all the various forms in which the pearl has been worn: whether as a spray of many small pearls or a few large ones, either round, ovate, or pear-shaped for aigrets; in points on crowns, used either for ornamental or heraldic purposes; for the decoration of the orbs, scepters, and crowns of kings and emperors; for forming an edging on bonnets, caps, fillets, or diadems; in pendant form, usually consisting of one, although sometimes of three or four pendants in rows and lines to ornament the side of the face; or one, two, three, or a bunch together to adorn the ear; as a single pearl on a wire or a group of them, as worn in the nose of the East Indian beauty; as a single, two, three, or many-rowed necklace to grace the lady, the queen, and the empress; or else in six, ten, to twenty or more rows with a tiny gold jeweled bar, or a large diamond center, in the form of collars; as a long chain from four to ten feet long to hang from the neck to the waist, or else to be worn once, twice, or thrice around the neck, hanging down and then encircling the waist in the form of a sautoir; either as a single drop, consisting of an ovate or pear-shaped pearl or a number of them together in the form of a pendant combined with diamonds; as a single pearl surrounded with pearls or diamonds for buttons to adorn my lady’s crown; in rows, or combined with jewels and enamel, in the form of a bow-knot with long bunches of pearls, for shoulder bars; either as one pearl alone or alternating with gold wire, with jewels, or with many pearls, in endless forms, as bracelets; either as a single row, two rows or alternate rows in infinite variety on bodices, as worn in the past more than at the present; in a single row on ornamenting metal, enamel, or jewelwork in the form of girdles; in five hundred forms for rings; as an embroidery or in rows pendant on slippers; and, finally, as a stole. These are only a few of the uses to which a lady can put pearls.

By men, pearls are worn to adorn the shirt, to wear in the scarf, as link buttons, as waistcoat buttons, or as a fob. The pearls used in this way are sometimes quite as expensive as any of those worn by the ladies.

Ecclesiastics, for more than two thousand years, have appreciated the richness of bepearling. In Russia we find pearls decorating crosses, missal covers, vestments, bindings on books, chalices and crook-tops; they are employed as borders to ikon frames, or for the decoration about the Madonna and Child. In Persia we find pearl-embroidered rugs, pillows, and bolsters. Half-pearls are used in quaint decorations for watches, snuff-boxes, miniatures, and portrait frames. Even saddles and horse-trappings in the East do not escape the charm and beauty of the pearl. Even the English coronation spoon is known for the pearls which ornament it.

Of the many forms of earrings that have come down to us, none is simpler or daintier than a single pearl worn as an ear-screw, or partly or entirely strung on a thin gold wire. Another dainty style is three pearls, worn one below the other as in ancient Rome, known as a triclum; or the round pearl with a pear-shaped pendant or bunches of pearls known as crotalia, also worn in ancient times.

A pearl necklace is usually clasped either by a round or ovate pearl, drilled so that the catch and snap are contained within the pearl itself, or else by a pearl surrounded by diamonds, rubies, or other gems. Such a clasp frequently serves to bind from two to fifteen rows of pearls, the first or smaller row encircling the neck, and each row in turn being larger until the fifteenth row reaches to the bosom or even to the waist.

Pearl collars are usually made up of four, six, ten, twenty, and even twenty-five rows; often of very small pearls, generally fitting closely to the neck. The pearls are held in position either by four gold, diamond, or jeweled bars, or frequently the entire front of the collar is occupied by a large diamond ornament.

In ancient times, pearls were a favorite decoration of crosses; frequently an entire cross was made up of pearls, either of a single or a double row. Many portraits dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century show the cross used in connection with a necklace, this either starting from the top of the cross or from each side at the end of each arm. Sometimes from below the arms and the lower part of the cross there hung pendant either round or pear-shaped pearls. We have other instances where at the top, the cross was attached to a pearl necklace, while below each of the two arms there hung a pearl, and from the lower part of the cross a double necklace again reached to the back of the neck. Frequently a festoon collar will be made up of five rows of pearls, each of a graduated length, and pendant on each a diamond. Recently pearls have been drilled and invisibly joined by fine platinum links, so as to form a continuous ribbon or even a collar two inches wide; occasionally, a Greek border or some other design, of larger pearls or of diamonds, rubies, sapphires or other gems, is interwoven. This constitutes a veritable, smooth pearl cloth, or pearl mesh, very beautiful and also comfortable to wear. Indeed, a purse, measuring five by six inches, has been made of this cloth of pearls.

Dust-pearls, too minute to drill, and numbering over 100,000 to the ounce, were used, in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth centuries, for the embellishment of the hair-work then so much in favor and which was placed under glass. Where foliage was represented the leaves were made of the most minute seed-pearls, graduated in size and set on an outline of enamel or white paint, the pearls being cemented to the outline. This added a softness to the hair-work and other decoration.

As long as the pearl has been known, there has been a desire to obtain possession of one in some of its degrees of perfection, and for this reason many attempts have been made to prepare something that might pass for a pearl or even suggest a pearl. Sometimes the mother-of-pearl shell has, naturally, a protuberance, either round or pear-shaped, which, if cut off and highly polished may resemble an imperfect pearl; and this operation is often so cleverly performed that, at the first glance, this object may pass for a true pearl. In Russia, and especially in Bohemia, they have gone farther than this. They have cut out a bit of mother-of-pearl shell, leaving a piece of the natural shell for the top, or the part that will be visible, and rounding off the rest of the surface so as to give it a pearly effect. These objects are of trifling value and are used in necklaces and earrings, and in the ornamentation of icons and miniature frames and even as beads. Glass with either an exterior or interior coating of a nacreous substance is sometimes made absolutely round, while at other times it is made with many imperfections so as to resemble either a marine baroque or a fresh-water irregular pearl. The North American Indian, as described elsewhere, has coated little balls of clay with a powder made from a pearl-bearing fresh-water mussel and then baked them.