If Paul Lévi and Jean-Paul Poirot are to be believed, rue Lafayette, which has been home to the majority of Parisian gem dealers since the 19th century, is thought to have been home to almost 300 fine pearl merchants between the two world wars, between numbers 1 and 100. The sheer size of this number is striking when compared with the current state of the fine pearl market, both within the capital and worldwide. As well as unravelling the final mysteries surrounding this biomineral, the main aim is to show the extent to which pearls inspired Parisian jewellers and artists of all kinds, both young and old. They all seem to have been driven by the same pearlomania, whatever their medium, from opera to cinema, painting, photography, posters or illustrated books, to the point of making the pearl one of the symbolic forms of the Roaring Twenties.<\/p>\n
Text in English and French.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This fascinating book shows how pearls have inspired Parisian jewellers and artists of all kinds, both young and old, as well as exploring the mysteries of this prized biomineral. Text in English and French.
Foreword 13
\nIntroduction 14
\nPearls and the East 18
\nThe nature of pearls 20
\nPearl vocabulary: origins and definitions 22
\nThe Wild Wild East 25
\nConquering the market 32
\nThe slow rise of French merchants in the Gulf 35
\nThe queen of gems, the gem of queens…
\nand of first Ladies 45
\nLondon versus Paris: a war of pearls 55
\nThe “new pearl fisheries” 65
\nThe arrival of the “king of pearls”:
\nLéonard Rosenthal 68
\nLondon’s fall, rise of Paris 71
\nFrom Kuwait to Rue La Fayette… and back 78
\nThe pearl as a symbol of modernity 88
\nFrom Art Nouveau to the “new style” 90
\nThe pearl trade during the First World War 116
\nPearl mania in Paris 128
\nThe Gulf merchants head to Paris 130
\nMuch-decorated merchant-kings 134
\nIt’s raining pearls! 137
\nCultured pearls burst onto the Western market 158
\nThe pearl enthroned: the Exposition Internationale
\ndes Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes
\nof 1925 163
\nSea, land and sky: all pearl routes lead to Paris 172
\nThe dark years 174
\n“At this price, Ladies.” 176
\nCultured pearls: problem or solution? 180
\nThe end of an era 183
\nThe pearl crisis 186
\nThe Rosenthals’ terrible odyssey 197
\nThe pearl trade from then to now 202
\nThe pearl paths after the war 205
\nPapeete, new center of cultured pearls? 211
\nPearls in the 21st century: back in favor? 217
\nAppendices 222<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":56985,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[5565],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-52050","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-jewellery-watches","7":"author-by-author-leonard-pouy","8":"publisher-editions-norma","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n