Scientists began more sophisticated research on pearl formation, developing new theories one after another. Scientists who were fascinated by the mysteries of pearls began their quest to find out how pearls are formed.įormation Theories and Cultivation Research įrom the 16th to the 18th century, the western world advanced in pearl research as new technologies, such as microscopes, developed. Along the line of history and with the help of the Silk Road, Tiangong Kaiwu arrived in Europe and was translated. Chapter 18 of this collection mentioned about the pearls and the formation theory. Song Yingxing compiled a Chinese encyclopedia called Tiangong Kaiwu ( 天工開物). The mold was then inserted into the freshwater mussel shell, Hyriopsis cumingii. Instead of using the shells or saibo as the core, they used a mold to create a buddhist figure ( another photo) made from lead. The cultivation method was the same as the Mabe-pearl (half pearl) that we know of today. One of the first recorded histories of cultured pearls was found in the ancient China during the Sung Dynasty. White pearl necklace History Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) The edges and corners are ground down until they are a roughly spherical and then milled to become perfectly round, and brought to a highly polished finish. These high-quality and sought-after shells are first sliced into strips and then into cubes. Shells with the common names "Washboard", "Maple Leaf", "Ebony", "Pimpleback", and "Three Ridge" are popular for use in pearl culture due to their compatibility with the host animal, and the nacre they are to be covered by. The most popular and effective method for creating cultured pearls are made from the shells of freshwater river mussels harvested in the Midwestern U.S., from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Natural pearls are initiated in nature more or less by chance, but cultured pearls are human-initiated, formed by inserting a tissue graft from a donor mollusk, upon which a pearl sac forms, and the inner side precipitates calcium carbonate, in the form of nacre or "mother-of-pearl". As the nacre builds up in layers of minute aragonite tablets, it fills the growing pearl sac and eventually forms a pearl. Chemically speaking, this is calcium carbonate and a fibrous protein called conchiolin. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms during the healing process. Cross-section of a cultured and a natural pearlĪ pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an attack of a fish, or another event that damages the external fragile rim of the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod.
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