Jimu News trainee reporter Sun Zhe
If you want to say that the most famous pearl in the history of art is undoubtedly the one worn by the girl in Vermeer's oil painting "The Girl with the Pearl Earring".
The Girl with the Pearl Earring is an oil painting by the 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer in 1665 and one of his masterpieces. The girl in the picture is wearing a brown coat, the white collar, the blue square scarf and the hanging lemon turban are contrasted with each other, she turns her head sideways, her lips are slightly open, and the pearl earrings worn in her left ear are looming.
Vermeer's masterpiece "The Girl with the Pearl Earring". Image source: Wikipedia
However, according to the BBC, the pearls in Vermeer's painting The Girl with the Pearl Earrings are most likely fake. The pearl worn by the maiden in the painting is teardrop-shaped and close to the size of a pigeon's egg, but a poor person like Vermeer cannot have such a large pearl. Therefore, we have every reason to suspect that the pearl was either sketched by Vermeer on the basis of imagination alone, or that it was a fake pearl made of lacquered glass.
There is a legendary pearl, about the same size as the one in The Girl with the Pearl Earrings. Its life is full of scenery, but it is also turbulent, and it is la Peregrina.
An incomparable pearl: the Pearl of La Parregina
Weighing 50.56 carats, the Pearl of La Parregina is about 25.5 mm long, teardrop-shaped, shaped like a pigeon's egg, and is a famous natural pearl of high quality in history.
In general, on average, only one in 10,000 oysters produces pearls of medium value. The value of producing such immaculate pearls as the Pearl of La Parregina is immeasurable.
The Pearl of La Parregina is also in the spotlight for its near-perfect shape, rare size, and legendary "history of displacement."
The "Wandering History" of the Pearl of La Parregina
The story of the Pearl of La Parregina is a major addition to jewelry history. The name La Peregrina means "wanderer" and echoes his turbulent life.
According to the BBC, the Pearl of La Parregina was discovered in the Gulf of Panama at the end of the 16th century, and was subsequently brought into the Spanish Royal Palace by colonists and given to King Felipe II. Thereafter, until the beginning of the 19th century, the Pearl of La Parregina was owned by the Spanish Royal Family.
In 1808, Napoleon's army invaded Spain and put his brother Joseph on the throne. In 1813, when the French army was retreating from Spain, Joseph brought the Pearl of La Parregina back to France and gave it to his sister-in-law, Queen Of holland, Hortense de Beauharnais. The son of the Queen of the Netherlands, later Napoleon III, successfully inherited the pearl.
However, Napoleon III was financially ill in his later years, and in order to increase his income, he sold the pearls to James Hamilton, Duke of Abercorn in England. Since then, the Pearl of La Parregina has been owned by the Duke of Abercan. It wasn't until 1969 that movie star Richard Burton bought the pearl at auction for $37,000, and soon after, he gave it to his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, as a birthday present for Taylor's 37th birthday.
According to the BBC, Taylor's pet dog accidentally "accidentally ate" the precious pearl, but in the end Taylor took it out of the puppy's mouth.
Taylor has always cherished the La Parregina Pearl, and she often wears it when filming and photographing. In the 1969 film "Anne's Thousand Days" by Taylor, the audience can clearly see the La Parregina Pearl worn by Taylor's neck.
After Taylor's death in December 2011, the Pearl of La Parregina was acquired at auction for $11.8 million by an anonymous buyer.
Hanging at the bottom of the necklace is the Pearl of La Parregina, which was designed by Elizabeth Taylor and Cartier designer Durant. Image source: Christie's auction house official website
The cultural and symbolic significance of pearls
Speaking of the symbolism of pearls, it goes back a long time. Originally, it was thought that the pearl represented the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Born in the ocean, Aphrodite has white porcelain-like skin that symbolizes the beauty of women. In the 1st-century Pompeian frescoes, the Romans wrote Aphrodite often wearing pearl earrings lying in a shell.
The Romans' love of pearls was almost fanatical. In the 1st century BC, Pliny the Elder (an ancient Roman encyclopedic writer) said, "Of all the treasures, pearls are the most precious." Suetonius (a famous historical writer of the early Roman Empire) also said that natural pearls are very precious. In the 1st century AD, a Roman general could even finance a military expedition by selling one of his mother's pearls.
The pearl of La Parregina was immediately given to King Felipe II of Spain upon discovery, which fully reflects the geopolitics of the Renaissance and shows another connection between pearls and art.
At the end of the 15th century, Columbus discovered the New World and immediately began Spanish colonial rule in the Americas. And his first big discovery on this new continent was the abundance of pearls in the Americas. Thus, when we look at the portraits of the Romans wearing pearls, or the Pearl of La Parregina in the portraits of members of the Spanish royal family, we can see that pearls at this time not only mean beauty and purity, but also symbolize the wealth plundered from the colonies and the immeasurable power of imperialism.
The Pearl of La Parregina has appeared in many portraits of members of the royal family. In the portrait of Juan Pantoja de la Cruz for Margaret of Austria (wife of King Felipe III of Spain), the Pearl of La Parregina is worn on her chest by the queen. The Pearl of La Paregrine is also found in portraits created by Velázquez (the greatest Spanish painter of the 17th century) for Elisabetta of France (the first wife of King Felipe IV of Spain). It is surrounded by a circle of ornaments made up of dynastic initials.
This incomparable pearl was also embedded in the royal crown, so it also symbolized the blood of the royal family. Many 17th-century memoirs refer to the Pearl of la Parregina as a precious property of the Spanish royal family.
In the portraits of members of the royal family painted by Cruz and Velázquez, women appear rather stiff and lack expressive. This is because the Spanish royal family has strict requirements for portraits of members of the royal family – they must be dignified and not smiling. Ornaments such as the Pearl of La Parregina bear heavy lifting in royal portraits, and they symbolize the affluence and decency of the royal family.
Portrait of Elizabeth by Peter Paul Rubens for Bourbon. Image source: The Official website of The State Hermitage Museum
According to the BBC, another teardrop-shaped pearl shaped like the Pearl of La Parregina was held by Mary Tudor in the mid-16th century. In 1554, in a portrait of the painter Hans Eworth, the teardrop-shaped pearl could be seen at a glance. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton held the portrait, but it was widely believed at the time that the one in the portrait was the Pearl of La Parregina.
Pearls have long been seen in human civilization as a symbol of beauty, power and wealth. The vivid "wandering history" of the Pearl of La Parregina has enriched people's understanding of pearls.
Elizabeth Taylor's love of pearls is evident in many of her photographs. The "love" of pearls by gabriel Chanel, Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe made them synonymous with charm and fame in the 1950s and 1960s.
From the Gulf of Panama to the Spanish royal family to the hands of celebrities from all walks of life, over time, the Pearl of La Parregina has shown different symbolic meanings in the hands of different people. The pearl is not just an ornament, it tells us stories about imperialism, power and wealth.
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the app market, welcome to provide news leads, and pay as soon as you adopt them. 24-hour reporting hotline 027-86777777.