The world's most natural beauty

The precious and mysterious pearl gets its own exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum

When I think of pearls, I think of the 1980s and the plastic replication of these gems in long strands weighted down by a tight knot at belly button level. They came in various effervescent hues, including fluorescent, and the fashion philosophy at that time was the more you had the cooler you were.
Today, pearls have slipped back into the wardrobe of the conservative classic look, a virtual staple of every "older woman's" closet. Needless to say, the pearl's natural and cultural evolution has impacted more than just the world of the fashionista and, as charted by the ROM's recent exhibition Pearls: A Natural History, its ever-changing and fascinating narrative crosses continents and centuries in a grail-like quest for the ideal sphere.
Prior to the diamond or any other "cut" gem, the pearl was the ultimate token of wealth and good fortune. It also became a prime propellor of international trade as far back as 4,000 years ago, when without wetsuits or scuba-diving gear, pearl divers scaped the bottom of the Indian Ocean for centuries.
John Steinbeck's classic novel The Pearl chronicles expeditions and the greed-induced lust for the material rewards pearls might promise. The novel's ultimate message was that the tragedy presided over the quest for wealth, but since when has mass culture ever listened to the lessons of great literature? The allure of the pearl was linked as much with its beauty as with its promise of returning a small fortune to its seller, who could barter for more or less simply because the treasure was found, not created.
During the renaissance, these gems could mean a new life for their harvesters, as they were sold to monarchs and nobles in Europe. By the 1920s, Japan developed techniques to create cultured pearls, which initially met with some hostility in the market, their mysterious origin somehow subtracted from their overall worth, but later they became accepted as the stamp of authenticity in pearls, as with most other consumer objects, came to matter less.
With over a half a million pearls on display, the ROM provides a thorough cartography of the pearl's progress across history, including some of its freakiest incarnations, for example, some 50 million year old fossil pearls, a replica of a 14.5 pound pearl the largest found to date, and celebrity-donned pearl ornaments, worn by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, as well as Queen Victoria and Marie Antoinette.
As well, the ROM traces they mythological dimensions of the pearl's story. Ancient Romans perceived the gems to be the frozen tears of gods and the Greeks believed they were formed when lightning struck the sea. Up until the 7th century, scientists though their formation represented a clam-captured dewdrop. How this entrapment of dew can occur in an ocean, I've yet to understand. But the most popularly dispelled myth is that the pearl is developed from a grain of sand lodged within the mollusk. In reality, pearls are formed when a sentient intruder a parasitic worm or a small crab enters between the clam's fleshy layers. Calcium carbonate then circles around it, creating the "mother" of the "pearl" shine.
For the layman, scientist, the jeweler, the historian, or the Gr. 9 English student who wishes to take a break from the Steinbeck novel, Pearls: A Natural History is sure to spark an interest and perhaps a newfound appreciation for this mysterious marble.

Pearls: A Natural History shows at the Royal Ontario Museum until January 9, 2005. For more information visit www.rom.on.ca.

Publication Date: 2004-09-26
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