Christmas Gift Suggestions.

Stumped for a Christmas gift for someone in your life who appreciates the finer things? The perhaps you would like to try the book Girls in Pearls which is available through Amazon and the usual outlets. It really doesn’t disappoint as it’s packed full of beautiful images of women, accompanied by an elegant, interesting summary of famous paintings that feature pearls as well as the cultural history of pearls throughout the centuries.


It covers society ladies, children’s jewellery, pearls in Christian art, courtesans, princesses, queens, divas, tarts and icons – all of whom are linked by their love of the lustrous beauty of pearls.

It is highly recommended for anyone who is a serious lover of pearls!

‘Women and pearls – this is a story that deserves its own chapter in the history of jewellery, in the history of art and, of course, in the biographies of the women who wore the jewels. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra destroyed one of her valuable pearl earrings in order to seduce the Roman commander Mark Antony. In England, after Elizabeth I had Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded in 1587, she promptly took possession of her cousin’s magnificent jewels. And arguably one of the most agitated moments of the actress Elizabeth Taylor’s life was when a Pekinese ran off with her precious pearl pendant…‘ — Claudia Lanfranconi, introduction to Girls in Pearls.

It has lots of sumptuous plates of famous paintings or photographs of people wearing pearls including Josephine Baker who we have featured here before.