Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Pearl: Nature's Perfect Gem

Pearl: Nature's Perfect Gem

Shen, Fiona Lindsay

Hardcover

General World HistoryGeologyJewelry

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1789146216
ISBN13: 9781789146219
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: Dec 5 2022
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.90
Height: 1.30 Width: 7.10 Depth: 8.20
Language: English
From their creation in the maw of mollusks to lustrous objects of infatuation and conflict, a revealing look at pearls' dark history.

This book is a beautifully illustrated account of pearls through millennia, from fossils to contemporary jewelry. Pearls are the most human of gems, both miraculous and familiar. Uniquely organic in origin, they are as intimate as our bodies, created through the same process as we grow bones and teeth. They have long been described as an animal's sacrifice, but until recently their retrieval often entailed the sacrifices of enslaved and indentured divers and laborers. While the shimmer of the pearl has enticed Roman noblewomen, Mughal princes, Hollywood royalty, mavericks, and renegades, encoded in its surface is a history of human endeavor, abuse, and aspiration--pain locked in the layers of a gleaming gem.

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