The Pearl in Mourning Jewellery
The pearl is the most important white material in the mourning context - symbol of the tear, of purity and of innocence - and in the 19th century was the preferred gemstone substance above all in half-mourning and final mourning as well as in mourning jewellery for deceased children.
Written by Dr. Helene Vasall
In the context of mourning jewellery the pearl is the most important pale material - the complement to the dominant black of jet, vulcanite or black enamel (see Whitby Jet, Vulcanite (Ebonite), Black Enamel (Schwarzemail)). While black signals fullest mourning, the white pearl stands for half-mourning, for mourning for children and for the symbolic tear - one of the oldest and most powerful mourning symbols of all.
Material and formation
A pearl forms inside a mollusc as an organic reaction to a foreign body. Over months or years the mantle epithelium of the mollusc secretes layers of aragonite (calcium carbonate) and conchiolin (an organic protein) - the layering produces the characteristic mother-of-pearl sheen (lustre).
Important pearl categories:
- Akoya pearls - Japan, white to cream, small to medium-sized (5–9 mm), classic for half-mourning
- South Sea pearls - Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia; large (9–17 mm), white, cream or golden
- Tahitian pearls - French Polynesia; dark - from pale grey through anthracite to deep black; medium-sized (8–15 mm)
- Freshwater pearls - China (the main producer today), USA, Scotland; diverse shapes and colours
- Natural pearls - historically dominant, today extremely rare; correspondingly high-priced at auction
The hardness of 2.5–4.5 makes pearls delicate. They are one of the softest jewellery materials of all and accordingly require careful attention.
History in mourning jewellery
Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Pearls are documented in Roman mourning contexts as early as antiquity; anuli funebres with small pearls survive in numerous excavation finds. In medieval Marian symbolism, pearls are regarded as "Mary's tears" or as "the congealed tears of sorrow".
Renaissance and Baroque (see Baroque (c. 1600–1750)). Pearls become the preferred material of memento mori jewellery (see Memento mori) - small pearls as tears around miniature skull images, large drop pearls as pendants on mourning necklaces. The famous "La Peregrina" - a pear-shaped natural pearl belonging to the Spanish royal house - was worn as a mourning symbol after the funerals of several Spanish queens.
Georgian period (1714–1837). Pearl mourning rings with an inscription inside and small half-pearls as an accent outside constitute a jewellery form in their own right. The symbolic charge intensifies; sentimental jewellery with pearl tears (see Sentimental Jewellery) emerges as a distinct branch.
Victorian period (1837–1901). The high point of ritualised mourning. Pearls are found above all in half-mourning and in mourning for children - small Akoya or freshwater pearls in gold settings, often combined with a lock of hair under rock crystal or with a miniature portrait.
Edwardian period (see The Edwardian Era (1901–1910/1914)). Pearls become the dominant jewellery material of all; the strict mourning etiquette relaxes, and multi-strand pearl necklaces form part of the daytime toilette of every well-to-do woman. In the mourning context, grey and anthracite-coloured pearls are increasingly used.
20th and 21st centuries. Pearls remain present, above all in formal funeral contexts - a single pearl necklace, pearl earrings or a discreet pearl ring are to this day regarded as appropriate mourning jewellery.
Mourning symbolism
The pearl carries a layered mourning symbolism:
- Tear - the dominant charge; the drop shape and white surface have been read as a petrified tear since antiquity
- Purity and innocence - above all in mourning jewellery for children; the flawless white surface stands for untroubled purity
- Moon and night - the mother-of-pearl sheen is associated with moonlight; in the memento mori context a link to transience
- Mary's tears - in the Christian tradition, above all in Catholic countries, a central charge; rosaries with pearl Our Fathers are widespread
- Dew and morning - a rarer but documented reading; the pearl as the "dew of mourning" that lies on the wound in the morning
In modern memorial jewellery contexts the tear charge is the dominant one - many ash and fingerprint pieces deliberately combine a pearl element as an additional symbolic layer.
Working techniques
Pearls are worked in mourning jewellery in the following ways:
Drilled and strung. The classic form: small pearls with a drill hole, strung on silk thread or a gold chain. In high-quality necklaces a knot is made between the individual pearls so that not all of them are lost if the strand breaks.
Half-drilled and pegged. Larger drop pearls are half-drilled and set into a mount with a glued gold peg. This technique predominates in pearl pendants and drop earrings.
Pavé setting. Very small half-pearls (half pearls, sometimes even mere pearl splinters) are mounted onto a gold base plate - analogous to the pavé garnet setting (see Garnet (Mourning Garnet)). This technique is found above all in Georgian and early Victorian pieces.
Set into a mount. Larger single pearls are set into closed gold mounts with claws. In particularly valuable pieces the setting is secured with a safety pin.
The pearl in the modern memorial market
In the current memorial jewellery market the pearl fulfils several functions:
Classic funeral jewellery. An Akoya or freshwater pearl necklace with discreet pearl earrings is still the customary formal jewellery toilette for a funeral. Prices: 100–800 €.
Personalised pearl pendant. A larger freshwater or Tahitian pearl is combined with a gold mount carrying a small ash capsule, a fingerprint plaque reverse or a hair inlay. Prices: 300–1,500 €.
Tear symbol in combination. In ash pendants and fingerprint jewellery a small pearl is often integrated as an additional tear symbol. The combination of ashes and pearl is today an established memorial jewellery aesthetic.
Tahitian pearl for fullest mourning. A black Tahitian pearl as the central pendant stone in a gold mount - a modern, high-priced alternative to classic Whitby jet. Prices: 600–3,500 €.
Care and storage
Pearls are the most care-intensive material on the jewellery market:
- Before wearing allow skin oils to be applied, then put the piece on - "pearls are the last thing put on and the first thing taken off"
- Avoid contact with lotion, perfume and hairspray - solvents attack the mother-of-pearl surface
- Store separately in a soft cloth pouch or a case with fabric lining; not in airtight plastic bags (pearls need humidity)
- Regular wear is the best care - skin oils keep the pearls supple and prevent them from drying out
- Cleaning only with a soft damp cloth; never ultrasound, never chemical cleaners, never a jewellery dip bath
- In the case of necklaces have them restrung every 5–10 years - the knotting becomes brittle over time
With modern pieces incorporating a relic mount (pearl plus ashes or pearl plus fingerprint) particular caution is called for - the pearl should sit protected when worn, ideally so that it does not receive the greater part of the friction and impact.
Questions about this entry
- Which pearls are relevant in the mourning context?
Three main categories. White pearls (Akoya, freshwater, white South Sea) - for half-mourning, above all in mourning for women and children; read symbolically as tears. Grey and anthracite-coloured pearls (pale Tahitian, grey freshwater) - for the transitional stages; increasingly popular in the late Victorian period. Black Tahitian pearls - for full mourning in pieces that do not wish to carry jet, vulcanite or black enamel. The black pearl is a late, high-priced mourning variant; in historical Victorian practice it was rare, while in the modern memorial jewellery sector it is gaining in importance.
- Why is the pearl regarded as a tear?
The drop shape and the white, unpatterned surface make the pearl a visual metaphor for a tear. This charge has been documented since antiquity - in Pliny the Elder as "dew caught by the shells"; in medieval mourning topoi as "the Madonna's congealed tears". In the 19th century the pearl is deliberately used as a mourning symbol - above all in mourning jewellery for deceased children (see Tear), in which white pearls emphasise the child's innocence and purity.
- How is pearl mourning jewellery cared for?
Pearls are delicate. Hardness 2.5–4.5 - susceptible to scratches and abrasion from other pieces of jewellery. Sensitive to solvents - alcohol, perfume, hairspray and creams attack the mother-of-pearl surface. Sensitive to water - cleaning with fresh water is possible, with sea water or chlorinated water it is not. Sensitive to drying - very dry air from heating can parch the pearls and cause them to crack. Storage: separately in a soft cloth pouch, not in airtight plastic bags. Regular wear is the best care - skin oils keep the pearls supple.
Further reading
- The Pearl in History - A Cultural Biography - Beatriz Chadour-Sampson (2013)
- Sentimental Jewellery - Shire Library - Ann Louise Luthi (2007)
- Mourning Dress - A Costume and Social History - Lou Taylor (1983)
Related entries
- Core conceptsMourning Jewellery
Mourning jewellery is body adornment that signals a death, binds the memory of a deceased person, or does both at once - since the 17th century a jewellery type in its own right, with a material language of its own.
- Core conceptsMemorial Jewellery
Memorial jewellery is jewellery that deliberately binds itself to one particular person - through an inscription, a photograph, hair, ashes or, the defining medium today, a digitally captured fingerprint.
- Core conceptsSentimental Jewellery
Sentimental jewellery is the jewellery of the age of sensibility between 1760 and 1840 - pieces in which love, friendship and grief share the same imagery, and in which hair, miniature painting and personal inscriptions first become the load-bearing form.
- MaterialsGold in Mourning Jewellery
Gold is historically the most dominant carrier material of mourning and memorial jewellery - usually in muted alloys, often contrasted with black enamel or as a restrained gold setting around a dark principal material such as jet, onyx or a plait of hair.
- MaterialsSilver in Mourning Jewellery
In the 19th century silver was the popular mourning carrier material of the bourgeois middle class and is today the most widespread material of modern memorial jewellery - cheaper than gold, more precise to engrave than stainless steel and with a long symbolic tradition as a material of purity and of memento mori iconography.
- Jewellery formsMourning Ring (Memorial Ring)
A mourning ring - also called a memorial ring - is a finger ring that carries the memory of a deceased person, usually in the form of an inscription, an image, a lock of hair or a fingerprint.
- Jewellery formsMourning Necklace
The mourning necklace is a chain worn at the neck in black or muted material which, in the second half of the nineteenth century, became the standard daytime wear of the mourning period, and which lives on today as a reduced remembrance variant with a pendant.
- Jewellery formsMourning Earrings
Mourning earrings are matt black or muted pieces of ear jewellery which in the nineteenth century were an obligatory component of the female mourning toilette, and which live on today as a discreet remembrance variant with a tiny relic setting.
- Symbols & motifsTear
The tear - as a shaped teardrop pendant, as a drop-shaped pearl or as a painted tear on a miniature portrait - is one of the most direct mourning symbols of all; it joins bodily reality (the drop actually wept) to symbolic condensation, and appears in jewellery from the Baroque memento mori to the modern teardrop ash pendant.
- People & cultural historyThe Middle Classes and Mourning Jewellery in the Nineteenth Century
The rising middle classes of the nineteenth century were the principal bearers and principal consumers of the era's mourning and memorial jewellery - a social stratum that took over the aristocratic model of court mourning, gave it symbols and materials of its own, and in the course of industrialisation turned it into a mass market.
- PeriodsThe Georgian Era (1714–1837)
The Georgian era spans the reigns of the four kings George I to George IV and of William IV in Britain. In mourning jewellery it is the epoch in which sentimental jewellery was invented - sepia hair painting, the lover's eye, the miniature portrait on ivory, and the posy ring in transition to the memento mori ring.
- PeriodsThe Edwardian Era (1901–1910/1914)
The Edwardian era is the brief transitional period between the Victorian system of mourning jewellery and its final collapse in the First World War - a time of loosening codes, of refinement in materials (platinum, diamond) and of the first decided *weakening* of formal mourning obligation.