FAMOUS PEARLS AND COLLECTIONS 457
Persia,
purchased it in 1633 from an Arab who had just received it from the
fisheries at El Katif. "It cost him 32,000 tomans, or 1,400,-000 livres
of our money, at the rate of 46 livres and 6 deniers per toman
($552,000)."J
Very
much smaller but more beautiful than this great pearl, was the one
which Tavernier saw in 1670 at Ormus in the possession of the Imam of
Muscat, who had recently recovered the Muscat peninsula from the
Portuguese. The jeweler stated that although this weighed only twelve
and one sixteenth carats (forty-eight and a quarter grains),2
and was not perfectly round, it surpassed in beauty all others in the
world at that time. It was so clear and lustrous as to appear
translucent. At the conclusion of a grand entertainment given by the
Khan of Ormus, at which Tavernier was present, the Prince of Muscat
drew this gem from a small purse suspended about his neck, and
exhibited it to the company. The Khan of Ormus offered 2000 tomans
(about $34,500) for it, but the owner would not part with his treasure.
Tavernier states that later the prince refused an offer of 40,000 escus ($45,000) from Aurangzeb, the Great Mogul of India.3
Figure
3 in the diagram represents a pear-shaped pearl of fifty-five carats
(220 grains) which Tavernier sold to Shaista Khan, uncle of the Grand
Mogul. Although of large size and good shape, this was deficient in
luster. According to the jeweler, this pearl was from the Island of
Margarita on the Venezuelan coast, and was the largest ever carried
from Occident to Orient.
Tavernier
listed among the Great Mogul's jewels a large olive-shaped pearl,
perfect in form and luster. The weight was not noted, but from the
sketch which he gave (see Fig. 4) it may be estimated at about 125
grains. It formed the central ornament of a chain of emeralds and
rubies, which the Mogul sometimes wore about his neck. He also listed a
round pearl of perfect form (see Fig. 5). The weight of this also is
not noted, but from the sketch it may be estimated at 110 grains. This
was the largest perfectly spherical pearl known to Tavernier. Its
equal had never been found, and for that reason it was kept with the
unmounted jewels.
Among the other pearl treasures of the Great Mogul, Tavernier noted the following :
(a) Two grand, pear-shaped pearls, one weighing about seventy ratis,4
a little flattened on both sides, and of beautiful water and good form,
(b) A button-shaped pearl, weighing from fifty-five to sixty ratis, of
good form and good water, (c) A round pearl of great per-
1 Tavernier, "Travels in India," London, s Tavernier, "Travels in India," London, 1889, Vol. II, p. 130.
1889, Vol. II, p. no.
2 Tavernier used the Florentine carat, * One rati equaled seven eighths of the which equaled 3.04 grains troy. Florentine carat, or 2.66 grains troy.
