Desiring Pearls...

Let’s focus, for instance, on the iridescent surface of this tower made of meticulously cut pieces of mother-of-pearl. How did this material arrive to Heinrici’s atelier? Although it would be impossible for us to determine the exact routes through which these shells travelled, we know that during the 18th century, objects made of mother-of-pearl embodied a vast network of commercial exchanges across the Indian Ocean, connecting South and Southeast Asia, China, and Europe. The representatives of the British East India Company regularly transported large quantities of mother-of-pearl from Asia to Europe. Even if the cultural value of mother-of-pearl changed through mobility, it always preserved its desirability, thanks to its unique luminescence.See Machado, Pedro. (2020). “Introduction” In Pearls, people, and power: Pearling and Indian Ocean worlds, Pedro Machado, Steve Mullins, and Joseph Christensen (eds), 5-28. Athens (Ohio): Ohio University Press.

Quite interestingly, the very technique of inlaying mother-of-pearl in lacquerware entails a story of exchange within Asia itself. Despite the fact that the inlaying of mother-of-pearl was a technique commonly used in the decorative arts of China, Japan, and Korea, it appears that during the second part of the 16th century it was not so commonly used in Japanese lacquerware made for the domestic market [2]. However, after the conquest of Goa in 1510, the Portuguese established the first contacts with Gujarati craftsmanship and in particular started to collect caskets and boxes made with inlays of mother-of-pearl (fig. 15). They likely brought some pieces to Japan, where the Gujarati technique was integrated into nanban lacquerwares (fig. 16), thus creating a completely new genre of lacquerware.See Luterbacher, Samuel. (2019). “Surfaces for Reflection: Nanban Lacquer in the Iberian World”, Journal of Early Modern History 23 (2-3), 152-190. If you want to see how mother-of-pearl is inlaid into lacquerware, [click here to watch a video!] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT8yXhCtfRM)

But mother-of-pearl is not the only material selected for creating this box that was sourced in the Indian Ocean’s waters... Want to know more on the history of mother-of-pearl lacquerware? Look at the objects featured in this exhibition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art [by clicking at this link] (https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2006/mother-of-pearl/photo-gallery)