Pearl Wisdom
Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had a load of goods and found a pearl. That merchant was wise. He sold the load and bought for himself the pearl alone. You also, seek after his treasure which does not fail (but) endures, where moth does not come near to devour nor worm to destroy. Gospel of Thomas.
Miss Cai smiled before passing the needle. Her face, tanned a light brown by the south China sun, recognized the reticence with which I cradled the injector. She guided my hand to the deeply creviced shell, encouraging me to carefully insert the needle directly under her fingers.
“Remember that some oysters immediately reject the irritant leading to death over the ensuing weeks to months. I wish you and your oyster luck! Come back in three years and let’s find your pearl!”
Ms. Cai spoke to me during my family’s recent visit to her pearl farm. Her father had started the farm, learning early from the Japanese how to increase an oyster’s chances of producing a fine quality pearl.
“Although we Chinese have cultivated fresh water pearls since the 13th century, it was the Japanese, and particularly the son of a noodle maker, Kokichi Mikimoto, who truly commercialized the whole cultivation process in the early 20th century. He was the first to understand that an artificial irritant may be injected into an oyster to stimulate pearl production.”
Unlike the natural pearl development process in which irritants, such as a piece of shell or sand, enters an oyster, the cultured pearl process involves the intentional insertion of a piece of mother of pearl shell into an oyster.
Ms. Cai laughs at some of the early Chinese efforts to outdo the Japanese by injecting small pellets of silver and gold. “We assumed that the oyster would be as enamored by these rare metals as we are! I think that we Chinese finally acknowledged that mother of pearl produces the best quality pearls.”
Once the mother of pearl is inserted, the oyster secretes a calcium carbonate fluid as a defense mechanism to coat the item. Layer upon layer of this coating, known as nacre, is deposited on the irritant until a bulge on the shell, a blister pearl, is formed. Eventually a depression in the mantle grows and a small sac develops around the blister, enabling it to detach itself from the shell. The detached blister pearl becomes a foreign body itself and the oyster reacts with increased layers of nacre. The final size of a pearl depends on the amount of this second round of nacre. It usually takes three years for a pearl to reach its full size, and thus Ms. Cai’s invitation to return in 2012.
The insertion is an extremely stressful event for an oyster. Many reject the irritant and succumb to disease throughout the growth process. Over a ten-year period, only 40-50% of the oysters will have survived, and only 5% of the pearls produced will be of fine quality. Oysters can be seeded again and placed back in the water and, although the volume of pearls may be fewer in the second seeding, Ms. Cai feels that the color and luster of the second crop is better.
“My childhood was full of dragon stories and pearls. My mother used to tell me that dragons bring the rain when they are fighting in the heavens. Pearls are spittle of the dragons, and thus associated with rain. My father told people that pearls are the best defense against, of all things, fire!”
Ms Cai described another story over tea about a dragon on the island of Borneo. This dragon, which lived on the tallest mountain, owned a grand pearl that the Chinese Emperor desired. He dispatched many of his best military men to the island to wrest the pearl from the dragon. Virtually every soldier was killed during the quest. The Emperor, frustrated by the failures, sent two of his best men, Wee San and Wee Ping to approach the dragon The two brothers stealthily watched the dragon’s actions and decided to wait until the dragon left to find food to search his lair for the pearl. The brothers then flew by kite to the top of the mountain and removed the pearl. They replaced it with an imitation, hoping to trick the dragon. However, upon his return, the dragon immediately noticed the fake and flew to the sea where the brothers were making their way back to China on their boat. As the dragon approached, Wee San ordered for the cannon to be fired at the dragon. The beast, thinking it was his precious pearl, swallowed the cannon ball and died. The Wee brothers returned to China as heroes.
While many stories praise the timeless beauty of pearls, Ms. Cai’s final lesson focused on a pearl’s imperfections. “Real pearls are organic, and in no way perfect.”
She placed a pearl in her mouth and sloshed it across her teeth. She handed me one and asked me to do the same. “Experts test the authenticity of pearls in this method. Rub the pearl with your tongue against your teeth. Can you feel the small grooves and dents? This is normal. If the pearl is completely smooth and not gritty it is most likely a fake!”
I embarrassingly admitted to Ms. Cai that I had a difficult time feeling any indentations on my pearl. Ms. Cai smiled and encouraged me to keep trying. She bid me farewell and encouraged me to keep the pearl in my mouth until I felt its imperfections.
“Do not be seduced by the beauty of a pearl. Work to feel its imperfections. The pearl arose from a piece of sand or a craggy shard of shell. Do not forget its inner spirit,” she continued with a wink and a hug, “Like a beautiful woman, its exterior can hide a much harsher reality inside.”
Miss Cai smiled before passing the needle. Her face, tanned a light brown by the south China sun, recognized the reticence with which I cradled the injector. She guided my hand to the deeply creviced shell, encouraging me to carefully insert the needle directly under her fingers.
“Remember that some oysters immediately reject the irritant leading to death over the ensuing weeks to months. I wish you and your oyster luck! Come back in three years and let’s find your pearl!”
Ms. Cai spoke to me during my family’s recent visit to her pearl farm. Her father had started the farm, learning early from the Japanese how to increase an oyster’s chances of producing a fine quality pearl.
“Although we Chinese have cultivated fresh water pearls since the 13th century, it was the Japanese, and particularly the son of a noodle maker, Kokichi Mikimoto, who truly commercialized the whole cultivation process in the early 20th century. He was the first to understand that an artificial irritant may be injected into an oyster to stimulate pearl production.”
Unlike the natural pearl development process in which irritants, such as a piece of shell or sand, enters an oyster, the cultured pearl process involves the intentional insertion of a piece of mother of pearl shell into an oyster.
Ms. Cai laughs at some of the early Chinese efforts to outdo the Japanese by injecting small pellets of silver and gold. “We assumed that the oyster would be as enamored by these rare metals as we are! I think that we Chinese finally acknowledged that mother of pearl produces the best quality pearls.”
Once the mother of pearl is inserted, the oyster secretes a calcium carbonate fluid as a defense mechanism to coat the item. Layer upon layer of this coating, known as nacre, is deposited on the irritant until a bulge on the shell, a blister pearl, is formed. Eventually a depression in the mantle grows and a small sac develops around the blister, enabling it to detach itself from the shell. The detached blister pearl becomes a foreign body itself and the oyster reacts with increased layers of nacre. The final size of a pearl depends on the amount of this second round of nacre. It usually takes three years for a pearl to reach its full size, and thus Ms. Cai’s invitation to return in 2012.
The insertion is an extremely stressful event for an oyster. Many reject the irritant and succumb to disease throughout the growth process. Over a ten-year period, only 40-50% of the oysters will have survived, and only 5% of the pearls produced will be of fine quality. Oysters can be seeded again and placed back in the water and, although the volume of pearls may be fewer in the second seeding, Ms. Cai feels that the color and luster of the second crop is better.
“My childhood was full of dragon stories and pearls. My mother used to tell me that dragons bring the rain when they are fighting in the heavens. Pearls are spittle of the dragons, and thus associated with rain. My father told people that pearls are the best defense against, of all things, fire!”
Ms Cai described another story over tea about a dragon on the island of Borneo. This dragon, which lived on the tallest mountain, owned a grand pearl that the Chinese Emperor desired. He dispatched many of his best military men to the island to wrest the pearl from the dragon. Virtually every soldier was killed during the quest. The Emperor, frustrated by the failures, sent two of his best men, Wee San and Wee Ping to approach the dragon The two brothers stealthily watched the dragon’s actions and decided to wait until the dragon left to find food to search his lair for the pearl. The brothers then flew by kite to the top of the mountain and removed the pearl. They replaced it with an imitation, hoping to trick the dragon. However, upon his return, the dragon immediately noticed the fake and flew to the sea where the brothers were making their way back to China on their boat. As the dragon approached, Wee San ordered for the cannon to be fired at the dragon. The beast, thinking it was his precious pearl, swallowed the cannon ball and died. The Wee brothers returned to China as heroes.
While many stories praise the timeless beauty of pearls, Ms. Cai’s final lesson focused on a pearl’s imperfections. “Real pearls are organic, and in no way perfect.”
She placed a pearl in her mouth and sloshed it across her teeth. She handed me one and asked me to do the same. “Experts test the authenticity of pearls in this method. Rub the pearl with your tongue against your teeth. Can you feel the small grooves and dents? This is normal. If the pearl is completely smooth and not gritty it is most likely a fake!”
I embarrassingly admitted to Ms. Cai that I had a difficult time feeling any indentations on my pearl. Ms. Cai smiled and encouraged me to keep trying. She bid me farewell and encouraged me to keep the pearl in my mouth until I felt its imperfections.
“Do not be seduced by the beauty of a pearl. Work to feel its imperfections. The pearl arose from a piece of sand or a craggy shard of shell. Do not forget its inner spirit,” she continued with a wink and a hug, “Like a beautiful woman, its exterior can hide a much harsher reality inside.”