slippers; and, finally, as a stole. These are only a few of the uses to which a lady can put pearls.
By
men, pearls are worn to adorn the shirt, to wear in the scarf, as link
buttons, as waistcoat buttons, or as a fob. The pearls used in this way
are sometimes quite as expensive as any of those worn by the ladies.
Ecclesiastics,
for more than two thousand years, have appreciated the richness of
bepearling. In Russia we find pearls decorating crosses, missal covers,
vestments, bindings on books, chalices and crook-tops; they are
employed as borders to ikon frames, or for the decoration about the
Madonna and Child. In Persia we find pearl-embroidered rugs, pillows,
and bolsters. Half-pearls are used in quaint decorations for watches,
snuff-boxes, miniatures, and portrait frames. Even saddles and
horse-trappings in the East do not escape the charm and beauty of the
pearl. Even the English coronation spoon is known for the pearls which
ornament it.
Of
the many forms of earrings that have come down to us, none is simpler
or daintier than a single pearl worn as an ear-screw, or partly or
entirely strung on a thin gold wire. Another dainty style is three
pearls, worn one below the other as in ancient Rome, known as a
tric-lum; or the round pearl with a pear-shaped pendant or bunches of
pearls known as crotalia, also worn in ancient times.
A
pearl necklace is usually clasped either by a round or ovate pearl,
drilled so that the catch and snap are contained within the pearl
itself, or else by a pearl surrounded by diamonds, rubies, or other
gems. Such a clasp frequently serves to bind from two to fifteen rows
of pearls, the first or smaller row encircling the neck, and each row
in turn being larger until the fifteenth row reaches to the bosom or
even to the waist.
Pearl
collars are usually made up of four, six, ten, twenty, and even
twenty-five rows ; often of very small pearls, generally fitting
closely to the neck. The pearls are held in position either by four
gold, diamond, or jeweled bars, or frequently the entire front of the
collar is occupied by a large diamond ornament.
In
ancient times, pearls were a favorite decoration of crosses;
frequently an entire cross was made up of pearls, either of a single
or a double row. Many portraits dating from the fifteenth to the
seventeenth century show the cross used in connection with a necklace,
this either starting from the top of the cross or from each side at the
end of each arm. Sometimes from below the arms and the lower part of
the cross there hung pendant either round or pear-shaped pearls. We
have other instances where at the top, the cross was attached to a
pearl necklace, while below each of the two arms there hung a pearl,
and from the lower part of the cross a double necklace again reached to
the
