How were pearls mined in ancient times?

The Chinese were the first people to use this gemstone. It started about 42 centuries ago. At first, pearls were not used as jewelry, they replaced money. Emperor Yu in 2206 BC collected tribute in pearls from the entire population of the country. In ancient times, pearls were the equivalent of money for the Chinese, and also showed social status. For example, all court officials in China wore pearls in their headdresses, this was a sign of high social status. The Romans in ancient times proclaimed pearls to be the main jewel of Rome. To replenish the treasury in 54 BC. e. Julius Caesar went to Britain in search of pearls. The famous temples of Jupiter and Venus were decorated with pearls, which were given as gifts to the Gods. Actors wore capes and shoes embroidered with this stone, and the Roman Emperor Nero decorated his home with it. Alexander the Great, a famous commander, conquered the island of Socotra before his campaign against India. The island was famous for its black pearls. These pearls inspired the ruler so much that he combined this beauty with pale pink and pure white pearls and sent it to his homeland. After this, a general fascination with pearls began among aristocrats.

Pearls in the Middle Ages

Until the 15th century, when the method of polishing diamonds was invented and the production of diamond jewelry began, pearls were the most precious stone. A popular piece of jewelry from the Renaissance, the ideally shaped pearl is like the one on Philip II’s hat pin, which was given to him in the 16th century. She was the size of a pigeon’s egg, and later became known as “Peregrina”. The shape of the beautiful pearl was ideal, it rolled off any surface with minimal inclination, and for this it received its name, which translates as “wanderer.” The king wore it in memory of his wife Mary Tudor. Not a single portrait of the rulers of this time, for example, Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart or Marie de Medici, was complete without beautiful pearl jewelry. Queen Elizabeth I of England had the strongest love for pearls, and she constantly wore at least seven strands of pearls. In portraits she was often depicted in a light gray dress embroidered with three thousand pearls. And Queen Marie de Medici put on a dress for the baptism of the son of the future king Louis XIII, which was decorated with 3 thousand diamonds and 30 thousand pearls.

Pearls in Russia

In Russia, mentions of pearls were noted in the 10th century. Then it became a favorite stone for finishing clothes, hats for women, church vestments and utensils. Pearls were considered the favorite stone of the church. It was used to decorate church items: staves, crosses, vestments, icons, etc. The church has long been a monopolist in pearl mining in Russia. The hierarchy of church ministers was determined by the number of pearls – the more pearls, the higher the rank. This gem was the most favorite decoration of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Her most expensive necklace reached knee length.

Pearls in modern times

At the beginning of the 10th century, reserves of natural pearls throughout the world were depleted due to the barbaric method of their extraction. To obtain one large pearl, up to 5 thousand oysters were caught and opened. As a result, entire generations of shellfish were destroyed. Pearl jewelry is reduced to a single strand, and its price increases greatly. For example, famous jeweler Jacques Cartier bought a small store on XNUMXth Avenue in New York, selling two sea pearl necklaces. The idea of ​​cultivating pearls has always interested humanity, and the first attempts were made in Ancient China. This desire only intensified after pearl mining around the world was stopped. Knowledge about cultivation was not systematized and did not guarantee good quality pearls. Modern technology for producing pearls of the highest quality was invented and described by the Japanese Kokichi Mikimoto at the beginning of the 20th century.

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Looking at old paintings and photographs, you are sometimes surprised at how expensively the women of “unwashed Russia” are dressed. Incredibly beautiful jewelry and headdresses made of pearls, which took a huge amount of this precious material, were, of course, family treasures and passed on from generation to generation, but, nevertheless, it is strange that they were available not only to the nobility, but also to the wealthy peasants.

Pearl fishing

The answer to the question of where the peasants used to have so many pearls is very simple – they mined them themselves. European pearl mussels were found in huge quantities in northern rivers, especially in the Arkhangelsk province, along the shores of the White Sea. About 200 pearl-bearing rivers were known in Russia in the XNUMXth century. Special rafts were built to extract precious pearls. There was a hole in the center through which they looked through the bottom, and if they came across a cluster of shells, they pulled them out with special long tongs. In shallow water, pearl mussels were simply felt with their feet and taken out – even children could do this kind of fishing.

Fishing for pearls from a raft in Russia

It is interesting that, having found a large pearl, they put it in their mouth for a couple of hours, “marinated” it, and then kept it on their chest for some time in a wet rag – it was believed that this strengthened the pearl.

In the old days, pearl fishing was accessible to absolutely everyone

Of course, freshwater pearls are different from sea pearls, but there were a lot of them, and sometimes among the irregular and small ones there were real “pearls” – large and absolutely even, such that if you put them on a saucer, the pearl itself would not stand still. Such pearls were called “rolling” and, by the way, this is how their value was determined – the longer it rolls, the more expensive it is.

Russian beauties in pearls in Makovsky’s portraits

The production volumes were such that pearls were truly accessible even to poor people. They decorated not only clothes, but also icon frames, frescoes and religious objects, books, saddles, and weapons. Until the end of the 1721th century, Russia was the second supplier of pearls to Europe after India. The state tried several times to take control of the profitable production, but it did not work. For example, the decree of Peter I banning fishing in 1746 had to be canceled ten years later. But Elizaveta Petrovna did not prohibit mining, but attracted the army to this matter, which took part in special expeditions in 1749 and 1611. Although there were always enough pearls in the royal treasuries. This was especially noticeable during the defeats: in 1648, having taken the Kremlin, the Poles, out of idleness, shot large pearls from muskets, and during the Salt Riot of XNUMX, rebel robbers measured handfuls of pearls and sold them to those who wanted them by the capful.

The ceremonial clothing of the Russian tsars was richly embroidered with pearls

Wealth on your head

Pearls, as a natural material, and even grown inside a shell, have always been endowed with magical properties. Its whiteness and iridescent shine made it a symbol of purity and righteousness, which is why girls and young women especially loved it. In each region, outfits and headdresses had their own characteristics, so it is not surprising that the northern provinces were distinguished by the richest pearl jewelry. To make some hats, huge amounts of this precious material were required.

The Toropets kokoshnik is a special type of women’s headdress distinguished by many pearl cones. It was considered a symbol of fertility: “How many cones, so many children.”

Kokoshnik with pearl cones is a female decoration of the Pskov region; the craftswomen of the Toropets district were especially famous for its production

The northern bottom is the wavy lower part of the headdress of Zaonezhie girls. It took 3 to 20 spools of pearls to make this mesh (1 spool – 4,26 g), so such decoration was not cheap even in the old days.

Photos of girls from the northern regions of Russia. The rich northern part is a rich and very beautiful part of the headdress.

Karelian girl in national headdress

Pskov kokoshnik – an unusual type of this decoration was a cardboard “hat” covered with richly embroidered fabric, and a net underneath, which was also called “duckweed”. These headdresses were especially interesting in Verkhniye Luki.

Unusual kokoshnik of the Pskov province

Such decorations were family pride. In the old days, it was believed that pearls, as a “living” material, love young people, but on old people they fade and dry out over time. Therefore, older women passed on their treasures to girls and young women to restore their shine. In addition to this “gentle” method, there were also folk recipes for restoring the beauty of tarnished pearls. True, not all of them were suitable for finished complex products. The simplest method was considered to be cleaning with salt: pearls in a linen bag had to be sprinkled with it and rinsed in water until the salt dissolved, washing away foreign particles. May dew was also considered a good cleaning agent. Well, if all else failed, they let the brightest rooster peck the pearl. A few hours later they took it out of the bird’s stomach, shining with its pristine shine, and at the same time they cooked the soup.

From the hut to the palace

It is clear that centuries of mining on such a massive scale gradually led to the depletion of this natural resource. Over time, pearls in Russia became less and less, and their prices increased. However, high society, of course, did not deny itself this, now expensive, pleasure. It is clear that they never limited themselves to local pearls. A huge number of portraits of the 18th-19th centuries have been preserved, in which Russian nobility flaunts their jewelry. The point is probably that pearls are very beautiful, but at the same time modest. It highlights female beauty without drawing attention to itself, which is why artists have always loved to paint pearl jewelry.

F.K. Winterhalten, portrait of Empress Maria Alexandrovna

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna in a pearl headdress by Ivan Kramskoy, 1880s. (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum)

One of the most beautiful ladies of her era was Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova. From Princess Tatyana Vasilievna, Potemkin’s niece, she inherited a rich collection of jewelry. Felix Yusupov wrote in his memoirs about his great-great-grandmother:

“She was a passionate jewelery connoisseur and founded a collection that became famous. She bought the Polar Star diamond and many decorations from the French crown, jewelry of the Nepolitan queen and, finally, the unique and magnificent “Peregrina”, the famous pearl that belonged to Philip II of Spain and, they say, in ancient times – to Queen Cleopatra. The pearl was a pair of the one that the queen of Egypt dissolved in vinegar in order to surpass Anthony in table madness.”

Francois Flameng, portrait of Zinaida Yusupova with the family pearl “Pelegrina”

Unfortunately, today pearls have ceased to be a publicly available decoration, although numerous pearl oyster farms saturate the market with their products.

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