Gambia Pearl Fashion Gold Diamond Jewelry 27

Gambia Pearl Fashion Gold Diamond Jewelry.

By Aamir Mannan.

As centuries go by and the show progresses, visitors encounter a variety of different designs. Renaissance drawings characterised by typical three pearls pendants give way to George III’s cobalt blue coat buttons, while the black-dyed pearls of an ever-mourning Queen Victoria metamorphose in the flowers and insects of Lalique’s Art Nouveau designs. The only constant is the soaring price of natural pearls, which became increasingly rare as American seabeds turned into deserts due to excessive fishing.

Intensifying market demand invited attempts to produce cultured pearls. The exhibition’s last section concentrates on this modern history of scientific and artistic innovation. In 1907, Japanese experiments led to the production of the first cultured spherical pearl. The new pearl was so perfect that it could only be differentiated from a natural pearl with the use of an endoscope. Taking up earlier experiments, Kokichi Maimoto’s firm soon produced an entire scarf out of pearls, a feat of jewellery aptly titled Journey of 5000 Pearls.