pearl magic at the School of Jewelry Arts

It is said that, in between the wars, nearly 300 fine pearl traders had established their quarters between numbers 1 and 100 rue Lafayette. This shows that the French capital had risen to the rank of hub of the world pearl trade under the Third Republic! From the end of the 1860s and until the end of the 1930s, fortunes were born thanks to the opening of new land, sea and then air routes between and the countries of the Arab-Persian Gulf, called “coasts”. pearls”. Renowned since Antiquity for the richness and quality of its pearl oyster beds, this region of the world concentrates most of the production of this coveted material.

The pearl in all its brilliance

From then on, a true “perlomania” swept through Place Vendôme, while the great Houses competed in audacity and creativity to enhance these jewels of nature, born without human intervention. It was indeed not until the 1920s and the massive arrival of cultured pearls on the Parisian market that the use of fine or natural pearls in jewelry and fine jewelry was gradually eclipsed.

Necklace, circa 1910, fine pearl, diamonds, white gold, platinum, private collection. © Photo: The School of Jewelry Arts – Benjamin Chelly

Obeying the educational concerns dear to the School of Jewelry Arts, the exhibition thus covers each aspect of this pearling odyssey (historical, economic, sociological, aesthetic, etc.) thanks to a wealth of documents (account books, sales catalogs, posters advertising, photographs, paintings, etc.) brought together by the two curators: Léonard Pouy, doctor in history, and Olivier Segura, gemologist.

Owl pendant, circa 1880, baroque pearl, diamonds, rubies, gold, Private collection, courtesy of the Albion Art Institute. © Albion Art Jewelery Institute.

Owl pendant, circa 1880, baroque pearl, diamonds, rubies, gold, Private collection, courtesy of the Albion Art Institute. © Albion Art Jewelery Institute.

But the visitor's first contact with the pearl will be tactile in the first sense of the term, the visitor being able to plunge his hands into the heart of a deep basin overflowing with thousands of small white pearls of soft sensuality. It's hard to believe that these lovely little spheres were all born. a movement of epithelial cells secreting the shell inside the connective tissue of the mollusc's mantle » ! But you don't need to be a scientist to admire the exceptional gems brought together during this exhibition.

Necklace, 1890, fine pearls, diamonds, gold, silver, Private collection, courtesy of the Albion Art Institute © Albion Art Jewelery Institute

Necklace, 1890, fine pearls, diamonds, gold, silver, Private collection, courtesy of the Albion Art Institute © Albion Art Jewelery Institute

Fairy tiaras and sumptuous necklaces

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, against a backdrop of economic rivalries between the English and French capitals, the pearl crystallized all desires and its price even exceeded that of the diamond!

View of the exhibition “Paris, capital of the Pearl” at the École des Arts Joailliers, Paris © L’École des Arts Joailliers / Photo: Dylan Dubois, 2024

View of the exhibition “Paris, capital of the Pearl” at the École des Arts Joailliers, Paris © L’École des Arts Joailliers / Photo: Dylan Dubois, 2024

« In 1900, the pearl counted among its main defenders not only houses like Cartier and Boucheron, but also the brothers Paul (1851-1915) and Henri Vever, the jeweler René Lalique (1860-1945) and even Georges Fouquet (1862- 1957), who are particularly interested in its most baroque varieties, not hesitating to turn away from the pearls of the Gulf to look on those of the Mississippi ”, we learn in the beautiful catalog which accompanies the exhibition. We will not fail to admire this sumptuous bodice front by Henri Vever (1900, Faerber collection) whose daisies with petals caressed by the wind are entirely composed of diamonds and soft pearls caught in the great American river.

Henri Vever, Front of bodice, 1905, Mississippi pearls, diamonds, enamel, gold, silver, Faerber collection © Faerber

Henri Vever, Front of bodice, 1905, Mississippi pearls, diamonds, enamel, gold, silver, Faerber collection © Faerber

Champion of Art Nouveau, René Lalique is, for his part, represented in the exhibition by this curious jester's head brooch alternating fine brown pearls and baroque pearls, or even this delightful dog collar adorned with a decoration of hawthorns in fine pearls, both preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. While the Rosenthal brothers distinguished themselves by their audacity and their business sense (they were the very first Parisian pearl merchants to have gone to Bahrain), the jeweler Jacques Cartier in turn decided to go himself to the Gulf in 1912.

René Lalique, Ring, circa 1910, fine pearl, diamonds, enamel, yellow gold, private collection © Photo L'École des Arts Joailliers – Benjamin Chelly

René Lalique, Ring, circa 1910, fine pearl, diamonds, enamel, yellow gold, private collection © Photo L'École des Arts Joailliers – Benjamin Chelly

This will be the beginning of a long love story between the pearl and the Maison de la rue de la Paix… The incarnation of the “modern woman” since the 1910s, the pearl is then worn in long necklaces, as shown in the delicious invitation card designed by George Barbier for Cartier in 1914 and which features the iconic panther for the first time!

View of the exhibition “Paris, capital of the Pearl” at the École des Arts Joailliers, Paris © L’École des Arts Joailliers / Photo: Dylan Dubois, 2024

View of the exhibition “Paris, capital of the Pearl” at the École des Arts Joailliers, Paris © L’École des Arts Joailliers / Photo: Dylan Dubois, 2024

But it can also be transformed into a magical tiara at Chaumet (Murat tiara, 1920, private collection) or into a sumptuous five-row necklace as on the famous Gourdji example from the Faeber collection. “ Two generations were necessary to compose this necklace, exceptional for its harmony of colors (pink, greenish, orange) and the quality of the pearl pairings.», exclaimed Olivier Segura on the day of the opening.

The joys and misfortunes of the pearl

If the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts of 1925 revived the “perlomania” in Parisian salons, the irruption of Japanese cultured pearls on the market will hasten the end of the golden age of fine pearl in fine jewelry. But the fatal blow would be dealt during the Second World War with the deportation of Jewish merchants from Rue Lafayette. The tragic disappearance of these great families of French merchants (including that of the Rosenthals) sounds the death knell for carefreeness and prosperity.

Van Cleef & Arpels, Brooch

Van Cleef & Arpels, “Gladiateur” brooch, 1956, yellow gold, emeralds, rubies, baroque pearl, fine pearls, diamonds, Van Cleef & Arpels collection © L’École des Arts Joailliers

However, the exhibition ends on a more joyful note, with the reappropriation of the pearl by contemporary jewelers. To the geometric purity of the RingTwo pearlsthat Jean Dinh Van created for Pierre Cardin in 1967, contrasts with the baroque flamboyance of thisSheep's headfrom Maison JAR created in 2007 (fine pearls, cabochon star sapphires, aluminum, silver and gold, private collection).

JAR, Clip

JAR, “Sheep’s Head” clip, 2006, fine pearls, cabochon star sapphires, aluminum, silver, gold, private collection © L’École des Arts Joailliers

“Paris, capital of pearls”
School of Jewelery Arts, Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau, 16 bis boulevard Montmartre, Paris 9th
Free entry upon reservation
Until June 1, 2025

Pearls, from Bahrain to Paris
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