424 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
tional
offerings of now unknown givers, and many of the pieces are of artistic
workmanship. This monstrance owes its origin to Josef von Bilin, who
was a monk of the Capuchin order and a sacristan of Maria Loretto. On
account of the many pearls which adorn it, it is known by the name of
the "Pearl Monstrance."
Another
monstrance of Arabic gold, of the year 1680, is twenty inches high and
is studded with fifty-one pearls, of which twenty-nine surround the
disk, while the remainder are on the plate and the base. There are also
two crowns of silver-gilt for the statues of the Virgin and of the
Infant Jesus. The larger of these crowns has eighteen diamonds, a ruby,
and 102 pearls set in two rows ; while the smaller has nineteen
diamonds and a great number of pearls ; both crowns are made up of the
offerings of the faithful.
In
a historic description of the pearls in the treasury of the Kremlin,
Margeret, a Burgundian captain ("Estât de l'empire de Russie," 1649),
says that the treasury was "full of all kinds of jewels, principally
pearls, for they are worn in Russia more than in the rest of Europe. I
have seen fifty changes of raiment for the emperors around each of
which there were jewels for a bordering, and the robes were entirely
bordered with pearls, some with a border of pearls measuring a foot,
half a foot, or four inches in width. I have seen dozens of
bed-coverings embroidered with pearls."1
In
the treasury of the celebrated Troiza Monastery near Moscow, there is
an immense collection of ornamental objects for ecclesiastical use, the
value of which has been estimated at many millions of rubles. Here may
be seen miters and bishops' crooks—many of them of solid gold and set
with precious stones—Bibles and missals in golden bindings, priestly
vestments, altar-cloths, etc., all literally covered with pearls. There
is also a dish filled with large pearls of enormous value.2
The
use of fresh-water pearls in one of the most interesting
ecclesiastical objects of antiquity is shown in the "Shrine of St.
Patrick's Gospels," which is in the Dublin Museum. It was purchased by
the Irish Royal Academy in 1845 for £300 ($1500). This shrine, known as
the "domnach airgid," is of Irish manufacture and was perhaps made in
the eleventh or twelfth century. It was found in the neighborhood of
Clones, in County Monaghan, and is ornamented with three bosses which
contained uncut crystals, and are decorated with figures of grotesque
animals and traceries enameled in blue paste; between these may be seen
representations of four horsemen. On each of the four corners there was
a fresh-water pearl, one of which still remains
'Maskell, "Russian Art" (South Kensing- ' Baedeker, "Russland," Leipzig, 1888, p. 317.
ton Museum Handbooks), London, 1884, pp. 119, 120.
