Pearls: from Bahrain to Paris

Good morning, good morning everyone. I'm really happy to welcome you all from Asia, Asia-Pacific, our dear friends from Dubai. I know you are connected at l'École and thank you for joining today from Dubai, from Bahrain obviously, and Europe, all over the world, in Paris. I know we have many friends joining today, many newcomers, and thanks again to come to l'École here in in Paris to talk about pearls. So you know we love pearls and we are really happy to welcome today here in Paris. Thank you very much, Your Excellency, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa. You are the president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquity, and yeah, thanks again. It's a great privilege and honor to have you here in Paris to talk about pearls, about your country, and about all the specificities. We are with Léonard Pouilly, a historian here at l'École and who worked extensively on this exhibition, and my name is Olivier Segura, and I am the managing director for the School of Jewelry Arts in Hong Kong and gemologist, and with Léonard we have the great pleasure to organize this exhibition in Paris. You know l'École was created by Van Cleef & Arpels in 2012 here in Paris, and we developed many permanent campuses all around the world, in Hong Kong, in Dubai, and in Shanghai recently, and we travel in different cities to bring l'École really close to our audience, and again, thanks for your presence in our different programs. This topic is organized here in Paris because we have here in Paris, I like to say, a wonderful exhibition about pearls, about natural pearls. We call it Paris, the City of Pearls, and if you come to Paris until the 1st of June, please don't hesitate to visit here the exhibition. You will have some pictures during this and we have also a great, and thank you Léonard, catalog book around this exhibition. Exactly, we are very proud of this book and this exhibition, which was a project conducted by Olivier and I. We wanted to have both a gemology and a history view of this fantastic topic, a topic that we started to work on in the Gulf region, in Bahrain, in the Emirates also, a few years ago, while we were working on the relationship, the friendship also, the business, which was going on at the beginning of the 20th century between French merchants and merchants from the Gulf region, and this topic grew and grew and grew again, and for us, it was very important also to bring it back into Paris in order to, for the Parisians, for the French, for all the tourists in France, to remember this beautiful era, this very rich time also, which was forgotten by many. The opposite with the Gulf, where everybody remembers about this time. In France, this age was kind of forgotten, and for us, it was a very important mission, almost, to bring back all those beautiful pieces of jewelry, but also all the culture which was around it, the pictures, the photographs, the movies, the operas, the artworks in a wider sense, and this is why we would like, with this exhibition, to take you on a journey through time, in the very first decades of the 20th century, to immerse yourself, to dive into this pearl universe, all of its main actors, all of its most important creators, but this, even though Paris really became one of the central hubs and the city of pearls in the early 20th century, this could not have been possible without the pearls from the Gulf, from the region, which were the most appreciated, the tiny, tiny pearls, pinkish, creamy, from Pinctada radiata species. We have beautiful, of course, examples in the exhibition, and all of the creations which were inspired by this beautiful material, extremely rich, extremely diverse, extremely poetic, sensual even. You'll be able to touch some pearls if you come to the exhibition, and it was really a quite fantastic journey to see all of those wonders and to show it to the general audience, and this is very important because it created a culture of pearls in Paris, it created really like an art movement even, we can go as further as that, even though with time, the shape, the nature of pearls also evolved from natural to cultured from 1925 and so on, and this, in a way, the view, the way that people will see and appreciate pearls will also evolve during time. There is, however, a region where things didn't change so much and where this appreciation for natural pearls is still intact today, and this region, of course, is Bahrain, Bahrain, which is the country of pearls, we could say. Yes, and thank you again for joining today, because when we visited Bahrain for the first time, we were really astonished, we were really stuck, really pleased to see the importance of natural pearls in Bahrain. With pleasure, and thank you for hosting this, you know, seminar to the public to present one of Bahrain's finest cultural assets, which are the natural pearls. At the beginning of the 20th century, as you know, where there was a peak globally in terms of appetite for natural pearls by jewelers, by the public, by celebrities, by royalty, Bahrain was there to supply the finest pearls, and it was an industry that shaped the economy of Bahrain through various fields and positioning it as a major, you know, supplier of natural pearls to the global markets, as we've seen from a number of decrees that are quite relevant, that really are a testament that the pearling industry in Bahrain was a regulated industry, and that enabled it to have that credibility amongst international traders. There was governance to the quality of pearls, which is the most important thing to ensure in any industry, in any, you know, gemological sort of sphere globally. So these, I think, regulations have cemented Bahrain as synonymous with the natural pearls. And quality, and confidence for the consumer. And, you know, the most fascinating thing is that these decrees that were issued more than a hundred years ago are still valid today, as you know, cultured pearls are illegal in Bahrain. Yes, yes, yes, when you arrive at the airport. Yes, you have to declare them. Weapons and cultured pearls. And that's a great country, we love this country for that, as a pearl lover. So we propose to have a travel, a journey in Bahrain, with this really magnificent view, arriving by plane to Bahrain, and remind what is really the link in between our countries. Exactly, this is really important to remember, that this relationship between the Gulf region, the Khalij, as we say in Arabic, Bahrain, and France, and Europe, is not recent. It didn't start in the 20th century. It actually started during the antiquity. It's a very, very long story. If you read Pliny the Elder, for instance, you will hear about those pearls from the region, reaching Cleopatra's kingdom, etc. But especially if you look at some maps from the Renaissance, from the 17th century, there will always be many, many indications in the Gulf region. And most of the time, you will see those colors, as you can see on the screen here, these orange zones. And those indications are actually the location of oyster banks, of oyster beds in the sea. And of course, the purpose of such an indication, such information, is to locate the pearls, the natural pearls, and to highlight the fact that it was from this region that natural pearls were coming to Europe, and to all of the Western world. And I took this map, but I could have chosen a hundred others. It's almost on every map you will find this indication, which means that there was an activity. And those maps are extremely precise. There was a great knowledge and already many, many connections by boat, by land. Then it will transform. It will also get faster with the development of train during the First World War, and then with the airplane connections, obviously, until now. So this is why for us, it's quite important to highlight that the pearls from this region are not like any pearls. Of course, any mollusk can create a pearl, but people in Paris were particularly fond of these typical pearls, the Pinta da Radiata pearls, which were creamy, pinkish sometimes. Maybe you can describe them. If you allow me to interject here, since you have this interesting map to the left that shows the oyster beds. In Bahrain, I think what's unique is that we have marine protected areas dedicated to preserving these oyster beds, because usually marine protected areas are set in place to protect highly biodiverse areas. True. Oyster beds by nature, in terms of biodiversity, are important, but they don't have a high index in terms of the biological diversity. Yes. But the reason for protecting these natural assets is for its cultural significance, and it's an important element to really always bridge these two components and not just look at culture independently and nature independently, because it's an industry that really exemplifies that relationship between our natural habitat and basically jewellery and gemstones in general. Yes, yes. We always want more pearls. Yes. Actually, as you said, we have some quota, some restriction, and I was able a few years ago to come to Bahrain and to dive and to fish for pearls, and I had these documents, able to fish for 80 pearls, if I remember well. 80, not pearls, 80 oysters. But I find only one very, very small pearl in this. You should spend more time. Yes, exactly. So that's a project we need to come back very soon, and when we prepared as a pearl historian and gemologist, we know that Bahrain is a very important country for pearls from long times, and it's really developed a huge culture, as you said. Pearls are one of the elements that you find in every archaeological phase of Bahrain, since the ancient times of Dilmun, so you have pearls more than 3,000, 4,000 years old, up to the Ta'ilites, the Sahirites, Islamic period, to contemporary times. So it is, you know, if the history of Bahrain is a pearl necklace, you'll have a pearl from each phase of history. And what we see in front of us here on this slide is, I think in Bahrain as well, we're very fortunate to have one of the largest photographic records of that industry in the Gulf, but particularly in Bahrain, where it was thriving, and you had both photographers from Europe, but photographers from Bahrain as well, that documented the last sort of traditional way of oyster extraction up until the 60s. And it is an industry that really had everyone in the community involved in one way or another, and I think it's important to stress that, and this is, you know, what we're trying to promote as well. It is a sustainable industry that is based on individual divers, you know, collecting oysters, and there is absolutely a know-how on where to pick oysters and when, and that is also an important element of our intangible cultural heritage, that know-how that is inherited from one generation to the other, whether it's from the diver, whether it's from the merchant, whether it's from the jewelers. And we see them, you know, in these images, archival images, and most of these trades continue today, yet in a contemporary form, but the essence of those trades are still present with us today. Yes, and that's also important to say that for the development of oysters, you need clean waters, so it's really related to sustainable development. Absolutely, and you know, the protection of our marine habitats is essential to us, and this is why we're dedicating a lot of efforts into monitoring as well, and protection. Yes, it's really key, and here we have a map of Bahrain, and we wanted to talk about a fantastic project you developed in Bahrain, which is called the Pearling Path. So the Pearling Path is a project that has been listed as a World Heritage Site, and it is an urban reflection on that industry, and we have discussed earlier in the exhibition and in the catalogue as well that, you know, Paris was filled with pearl merchants and stores. So you have those places that were a testament to that industry, and this is, you know, the Pearling Path is a testament to that economy in Bahrain. The idea of it, as I said, was obviously to preserve the oyster beds for their cultural significance, but as well properties in the historic town of Maharraq, which was the main city that, you know, attracted merchants, traders from Europe, from India, from the Gulf itself, as a post where pearls were exchanged, appreciated, and then, as I said, you know, the regulation that were put in place really assured everyone in the process had their rights preserved and acknowledged. Any disputes would have been settled in our courts. It was a very sophisticated system that ensured rights are preserved. The city of Maharraq now obviously has changed. It has grown in size as, you know, with most cities, but it retains its fabric, the urban fabric of an old Islamic city, despite having new buildings, but the fabric is still there. So the Path still takes the visitor over a 3.5 kilometer journey from a natural shoreline to ending at a merchant's house. So the Pearl Path is an open-air museum in a sense, where in each of these components, you're exposed to different aspects of that industry, starting from the house of the diver or the trader or the merchant, because you had traders in that period that traded in other commodities that supported the pearling industry. So they not necessarily traded in pearls, but they traded in wood from India, ropes, spices, you know, construction material. All of that developed based on the wealth that was generated from the pearl sales. And as you know, during that period, you know, there was a huge spike in demand, which reflected in a huge spike in revenue, which reflected in a prosperous urban development in the old town of Muharram that we still see today. So the Path itself, and it has been, you know, available to the public and people are engaging with it. And, you know, and it's a different concept of how we're presenting our pearling heritage. Pearling heritage, you know, conventionally in the Gulf was encapsulated in a gallery, in a museum, obviously, you know, that has benefits, but also experiencing those monuments that were really used by people from that period, and in its different form, really gives you a different perspective, and contextualizes that society, because what you need to appreciate is that even one of the homes, for example, was dedicated to the role of women in the pearling industry. And commonly that is overlooked, because a lot of, you know, the explorers and researchers are usually focused on the diver and the suffering of the diver and the merchant and all of that. But, you know, you can imagine when all the men were out at sea, it's the women who were, you know, in charge of the household, of the family, many cases of trade as well during that period. So these different components that many people were not aware of, you know, they think pearls are as common as other gemstones, where, you know, they're just mined and then they're just passed on, but there are other narratives that are very interesting. Yes, you're totally right, we had the chance with Léonard a few years ago to visit the pearling pass, and what is really moving is to see, really, because we are really immersed inside the culture of pearls, and we can really understand this history, this story of humanity, the story of people, because pearls is, to me, really a fantastic material. We can talk about gemology, and as a gemologist I would love to develop more, but pearl is very specific, because as you say, it's really part of a community, it's part of, it's a history of men, it's a history of craft, it's the history of techniques, it's the history of science, and we can feel it really clearly when we visit the pearling pass. And architecture, because the whole development, urban development of the city of Moharraq was also closely connected with this, and if you go to Moharraq today, it's like a maze, you can get lost very, very easily, so if you're interested in pearls, this pass is a fantastic idea, it's like a field of Ariane, you follow through those doors, through the tiny house, which are really a wonder, and so it's a great chance for us today to have a guide, and your excellency will guide us through the streets of Moharraq right now. Because I think, you know, with the pearling pass, it really shows examples of, you know, how architecture is a reflection of a social status, you know, what we see in front of us here, for example, is the house of the diver. Obviously, you know, the divers were, you know, were modest in their wealth in society, so you'd have a single courtyard, you'd have a tree, you'd have a few rooms surrounding the courtyard, you know, a reflection of that, you know, social status, and the house itself provides you with an insight of the life of the diver, you know, because the divers were actually at the core of the industry, spending months diving through hardship and difficulties, and then obviously, you know, you move to other houses, such as the, you know, Al-Alawi house, which is a merchant that dealt with, as I said, other commodities that supported the industry, and as you see, you know, this house has a wind tower again, so what, you know, when selecting these houses, we are not saying that this is the only house of a merchant, we have selected the best examples that had the highest level of integrity and authenticity of that particular social component, because as you know, a lot of houses, you know, in the 60s and the 70s have developed, you know, there were additions, modifications, which is a natural process in any urban setting, but we have selected examples of houses and properties that had the highest level of authenticity, restored them to the highest standards to meet the requirements of UNESCO Underworld Heritage Committee as well, and repurposing some houses, so not all of the houses do have museological exhibitions, some will be repurposed for other purposes, whether, you know, they are F&Bs or other facilities that will allow the visitor to engage with the building in a much more dynamic way, rather than just moving from one house to the other with showcases. This is an example, another house that's of a merchant family that's, you know, been, you know, restored by architect Anne Holtrop and the landscaping by Madison Cox, allows, you know, the visitor to really experience that house and the courtyard, and again, the role of vegetation in the urban context, because historically, trees were a critical component in courtyards in Bahrain, for what they offer in terms of shade, in terms of climatization, in terms of fruiting trees as well, so it is, again, a way where in each property, or in each stop along the path, you are presented with a different topology of architecture, with a different purpose, with a different narrative of that combined story, and hopefully, you know, when you end with the museum, you see the jewels and the pieces that really were at the center of the interest by everyone interested. And what is important also is all the tradition, and the music, and the singers is a very important part of this tradition. Absolutely, as I said, you know, pearling has both its tangible elements, which are on the pearling list, but also a lot of intangible elements, such as the know-how, the music, this is, for example, Dar al-Muharraq, which is a music house dedicated to maritime music, and as you know, Fajuri, as we see here, is a form of our traditional music that's also listed in UNESCO on the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. It is music, you know, practiced by divers, but it's still practiced today as an inherited heritage, and as you can see, people enjoy interacting with these elements of our heritage, and we try and keep it as much as possible embedded within the urban fabric, so that people can walk, and as you can see in this case, it's accessible. Sorry, and maybe we can tell to our audience and our friends how important was the music, because the music, if I'm not mistaken, was everywhere. It was really like a rhythm during all the pearling times, at the seashore, in the boats, when they found a pearl. It was the driver, you know, if you're on the dhow, you have nothing other than music and the vocal of the divers, either, as you said, you know, there are chants when they're moving from one oyster bed to the other, there are chants when they're raising the sail, there are chants when they're lowering the sail, there are chants when they're unlucky, like you were, and just found one pearl but there's a chance, or a chant for every purpose, and I think it's the power of music, it's the power of a group of individuals, a community joining in terms of a cultural exercise. Yes, yes, and some, as you say, some singers, some groups still keep the tradition alive, because it's recodified and it's not written. No. So it's only by tradition, from father to son, that they can keep this knowledge of all these songs. But we are now documenting all of these, obviously, you know, cultural elements, obviously by voice recording, but also again through research and continuous research that goes into these songs, and as you know, a lot of musicians now are inspired by these chants to produce contemporary music as well, that are, you know, to current times. You're absolutely right, we have an example at the end of the exhibition, if you come you will hear a song by Hassan Fugeri, which is a prominent musician that we have now. Exactly, inspired by the Fugeri type of music, and there's many other examples. So very important to feel this tangible and intangible culture and phenomenon, we could say. So let's continue on the streets. On the streets, we are in the Souk, where, you know, and the warehouses as well, where a lot of the trade took place. And again, these are, you know, this is a commercial space, so it has been repurposed as a commercial space to visit the as we see by architect Valerio Lugliati, that is a monumental building that canopies warehouses that used to be on the sea. Yes, yes, when we visit, it is a light play with the sun, with the sky, that's really an interesting, as you say, architectural monument or place to visit. And along the path, you have these public squares that, again, provide places to rest, to enjoy the city as well under these canopies. This is an interesting complex at the end of the path. As you know, a lot of pearl merchants, they would have their house at what we see on the image to the right, the white building. And then this is the majlis where they would receive the merchants and a mosque for the community. Towards the end of the path, you have this pearl museum, again, by architect Anne Holtrop, that showcases objects from the collection of the National Museum, but also loans currently we have from Cartier and as well by local jurors and private collectors to showcase natural pearls in different forms and shapes and how they have been incorporated over the past century and more in terms of their beauty and the use of the pearls of Bahrain in these pieces. And this takes us a long way because you can go quite far in time if you want to look at pearl jewelry, even in ancient times, during the centuries before our era, there was already jewelry being made with pearls in the region. Absolutely. And the pearls of Bahrain, as you know, in the period of Pylos, which we see in this sphere, which is the Hellenistic period in Bahrain, from 200 BC, went on for 600 years. You know, pearling was a major source of trade during that period. We see it in a lot of excavations. And what's interesting is in the pieces here, and the pieces coming as well, is that we are not just finding pearls in the loose form in the archaeological record, we are finding them incorporated in jewelry. And I think this is important. Yes, it's very important because there was trade at that time. Pearls were moving from place to place. It's not because it was so long time ago that we can imagine sometimes there is no trade and no route, communication routes, commercial routes in between all these regions. As of course you say, Greece and many countries were very fond of pearls. We can say, and this is really your research, Léonard, but humanity was always interested and attracted by pearls. Yes, exactly. It's quite hard when you're studying pearls to find the very first difference between value and jewelry. And here it's quite precise. You can see that those pearls were supposed to be worn. They were not only goods of exchanges, they were not only currencies, they were actually adornments. They would have value, of course, from their material aspect, but they were also beautiful and seen as beautiful and were worn in such a way. We have examples from different times. There is a different period, also specific to Bahrain, like the Dilmun one, which would be the ancient civilization of Dilmun. We have one of the oldest pearls to the left here, again from excavations, and to the right a bit more closer to the Islamic period. And as I said, it is present in every archaeological phase that has occupied Bahrain. And sometimes you will find pearls next to other material which was set with other components, in necklaces. I think these components, as you will see with the next necklaces, is a testament that these civilizations have traded with the Indus Valley, with Mesopotamia, and in these necklaces, as you see, most of these stones are imported stones. And it shows how the culture of Dilmun, which was based on its trade with the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, how that is reflected in their jewelry. And obviously, all of them have a pearl component, the ones in front of us, in different forms and shapes. And I would like to highlight how modern those creations are. It's quite unbelievable to see how pearls, in a way, and such a way of wearing pearls didn't really change. Of course, there have been evolutions, but it's still very wearable in a way. And I think this is maybe the case only with pearls, that you can open any page in a history book, any time, any year, there will always be pearls around. So it's fair to say that pearls will never go out of fashion. They will never. And today, it's a demonstration, and it's typical of pearls. You cannot get sick of pearls. Never enough. No, no. Geographically, historically, there is pearl everywhere. And what kind of pearls? Here, I'm really happy to present, because we are pearl lovers. So we have this heart of the shell, the Pinta da Radiata, which is the most important and famous and present oyster in the oyster bank in Bahrain and all the region. So it's a small oyster, but can produce quite large pearls. And of course, all the dealers selected and sorted the pearl in different qualities. They all have a name, depending on the quality. And you see here on the left, the famous Dana Pearl, which is the most... I hope on your next diving trip to Bahrain, you will find a Dana. Yes. I hope so, to find a large one. We used to say, because we always often have the questions, we used to say that the growth of the pearl, for the pearl, is around less than one millimeter a year. So to obtain a very large Dana Pearl, we can imagine it's five, six, seven years, knowing that these oysters can live maybe seven, eight, ten years maximum. It's not a very large and long-lasting oyster. So it means, really, the pearl starts to grow really at the beginning of the life of the oyster. So that's why it's very rare, and that's why it's very precious. And we used to say also, depending on some merchants I met in Bahrain, that we can find around one pearl for 100 oysters. It was my case, around. But one pearl of quality for 100 pearls. Yes. And one pearl of 100 quality pearls for high jewelry, to release the Dana. So it's explained the rarity of this material. And the patience it requires in this industry. You require a lot of patience to collect the pearls, to sort them, to collect the right collection of pearls to make a necklace or a pair of earrings. Exactly. And here we have an example of the way it's displayed, and also for the storage of pearls, with this red fabric, which is a totally traditional way. And, of course, depending on the grade, they group, they keep it together. And that's really the way we discovered the pearl when we visited Bahrain a few years ago, with this variety of colors, of shine, which is really fabulous. And, of course, there were pearls in the antiquity, in the old days, but there are still beautiful pearls used for jewelry in Bahrain and in the rest of the world. Today, natural pearls are still a source of inspiration for many, many creators. If you visit the pearling past, you will see some of the most beautiful necklaces created in Bahrain nowadays, also loaned from other maisons. And obviously, if you come to Paris to the exhibition, we also show you pieces from 2023, some very modern pieces. And we have a few necklaces to show you. Yes, just one word before, because when I did my study of gemology, my teacher of gemology, when we had this class of pearls, told me, oh, you will never see natural pearls. Just as a gemology student, because it's very rare, it's so rare. So please visit the museum, visit, of course, our exhibition, visit the dealers, some dealers who still have pearls, because you will see that this material is really unique. Of course, I think you cannot compare with a culture of pearls. The lustre, the orient, the quality is really different. And as you say, Léonard, thank you, because we, thanks to the Matar family, six or even seven generations of pearl dealers in Bahrain, we have these incredible pictures of necklaces. I think this is, you know, as you said, the point is that it requires decades to complete a necklace of that sort. And I think that patience is what gives that piece its value. And the dedication by the pearl merchants and the jewellers that goes into completing that necklace, I think, is the sort of intangible value that is associated with that gemstone. Exactly. I think not so many things take so much time nowadays that everything is fast. You have to wait for decades, for generations even, since you cannot control the size, the shape, the colour of natural pearls. You have to wait to find the sisters, in a way, of a pearl to have a beautiful necklace, very harmonious. It takes more than time, it takes ages if you want to find perfection. Two, three generations to have a necklace like this one. And the G1 is really the best quality we saw on the previous necklace. And that's really the moment to say also the fascinating memory of colours the dealers have, because they have in memory all their stock and all the necklaces they are creating. And when they visit some other dealers, when they know a new pearl is found, G1, Dana, is found, they know if this pearl can fit one of their necklaces or not. And we have an interesting documentation and writings and books about this phenomenon. It's like a mental pearl library. They will always have in mind, and dreaming about their pearls. And I think what's special about the pearl traders in Bahrain is that they all work collectively. So if a pearl knows that another merchant is missing a pearl of this colour or this shade, just to complete the necklace, there's always that collaboration. And I think this is what gave the industry in Bahrain that prosperity, but as well sustainability. You're right. And we had also some text explaining also the pairing and all the price of the pearl when they find their counterpart. Really, now they cannot live without the other one. They need to live together when they are perfectly matched and they can do a perfect pair for earrings, for example, cufflinks or other creations. And now starts the very famous discussion, trading between the one who wants to sell and the one who wants to buy, to create this perfect, this perfect pair. Here we have another example. And yes, we particularly love this, also strands of 18 strings, one of the most rarest pearls in the world. We can imagine it's five, six generations to create this amazing necklace. And depending on the pearl, sometimes you like to find the exact same colour, the same hue, the same overtone. Or sometimes you want contrast. We want to have a pink one next to a greenish one. You want to show all the colours because almost every colour, every overtone, every hue can be found even in pearls that seem white from distance. If you look closely, if you look with different light also, you see all the colours, the orient also we say in French, that will really resplendish from the pearl. So this would be for traditional necklace. Yes, but actual jeweller, you can visit and you can still find natural pearls. Maybe I can have, because I have maybe one minute to add, because you know, for my friend and for audience here in the public, that always every time I say that there is no grain of sand in a natural pearl. So allow me please to explain again that natural pearls forms without the grain of sand. So it's my motto. So every time by contract, I have to explain every time no grain of sand in a natural pearl. So yeah, this is the case. So they are modern jewellers. So they are still using pearls, of course in Bahrain, because it's mandatory. You cannot use a cultural pearl, but also here in the exhibition and we have some pictures here of contemporary jewellers worldwide. Exactly. Because when they want, and we love pearls, they love pearls, when they want to use pearls in the most precious way, in the most exceptional way, they used natural pearls. And maisons like Van Cleef & Arpels will use this traditional way of pairing pearls, but adding rubies, adding also other gemstones to them in order to have different effects, different qualities, different... And it's always beautiful to have this connection, this discourse between pearls and other minerals like diamonds, like rubies, because they will dialogue in a way, in many ways. But also the inspiration, you were talking about this material inspiration, can give any type of creation you can imagine. The world is infinite and you can have even like the shape of a sheep, a sheep head by beautiful, by Jarre that we love so much. And you can really feel how inspired he was by this material, even imagining wool created out of it. Yes. And what is interesting is also like many gemstones, when they are very valuable, they are reused. So there is also this tradition, because maybe you have the questions behind your screen asking, do we find still new pearls? So of course, in Bahrain, there is still some fishery and some people authorized with this regulation, but the old pearls are still used and reused. And as a gemologist, I had also quite frequently the question, are pearls fragile? And what is the way to protect and to keep the pearls? So you saw in previous slides, very antique and archaeological pearls, they were in very good conditions. So of course, the right amount of humidity is very important to keep the pearl in a very good condition. So don't keep or storage your pearls in the cotton, because it will dry really the atmosphere. But if you wear, we used to say you need to wear your pearl to keep really the humidity at the right level and to keep and to protect the pearl in the perfect way. And here, probably for the Van Cleef & Arpels and probably for the Jarre, they are very old pearls, reused in a very different manner, in a very creative and exceptional way. And so please do visit the Pearling Path, go to Bahrain, visit this beautiful country, beautiful area. There's actually many more things to see in Bahrain. We are talking about tombs, it's a very rich country in terms of history and archaeology. And please do visit our exhibition, which is open until the 1st of June. Our next talk will also be dedicated to materiality and gemology in the Indigo region, focusing on the Louvre Abu Dhabi collection. This will be held on 9th of December. So please do come back for the beautiful talk. And maybe before we end, we have a few minutes to answer questions from the chat and from our wonderful community. Yes, thank you very much. So it's a moment to thank you very much, Your Excellency, for your presence and for your knowledge and bringing this importance of pearls for us. We are again pearl lovers, and thank you for protecting the pearls. It's a moment to thank the translations and also our friends in Dubai, and see you very soon, and all our friends around the world. And to welcome our dear Céline, who keeps some questions for us and for you. And thanks again for your interest and your questions. Thank you very much, Your Excellency. Thank you, Léonard and Olivier, for this precious talk. We have lots of questions. It refers to archaeology, gemology, and also creation and design. So the first question is dedicated to Bahrain and archaeology. What are the famous archaeological sites with discoveries and famous discoveries of pearls? So the prominent archaeological site is Qalaat al-Bahrain, the ancient harbour and capital of Dilmun, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a site that covers all civilizations in Bahrain, both the Dilmun, the Talus, the Islamic period. In that site that has been actively excavated since the 50s, we have unrevealed numerous pearls and other stones, used both loose and in jewellery. And I think it is a testament that that site specifically was the gateway of Bahrain to other regions through maritime trade, through maritime, you know, exchanges with the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia and the rest of the world. And I think it is a site today that continues to be one of the popular sites visited by the public, with a site museum that presents that cultural heritage. And of course, there are pearls within the archaeological displays in that museum as well. Yes, this topic and this question is very popular. We have lots of questions from our audience. And there is another question. With which other materials pearls were used during antiquity, for example, during the 1st millennium or during the Bronze Age? You shared with us some pictures of necklaces. It deals with pearls, but also different materials such as... It's mostly the biggest trading partner to Dilmun, obviously, was the Indus Valley. So we see commonly stones originating from India, particularly, that were used in those necklaces, as we've seen in some of the slides. Carnelian was very common. But again, some beads. Later on, you know, during the Thales period, you see, you know, even beads and glass and all of these other elements that, at that time, were a new innovation in terms of usage as well, incorporated in jewellery and in the archaeological record. Yes, I think the glass was very important. It was a new material at that time. So for us, sometimes, it's a bit surprising to find glass in jewellery, because of course, nowadays, it's not so precious. But some historians told me, yes, it's very interesting to have glass at that time. Exactly. There's many types of glass, of early enamels. So there's natural glass, also coming from the Libyan deserts sometimes. So it's quite diverse and rich. And gold, obviously. We had this beautiful earring from the Hellenistic period, bearing gold and pearls. So thank you. Another question, perhaps for you, Olivier. How many oysters have to be collected to find a pearl? And why are the oysters open on the boat? Very interesting. Yes, so as I said previously, so it really depends on the region. But what they say, some friends from Bahrain, yes, around 100 oysters to find one pearl. And on every pearl you find, so on every 100 oysters, you can find one nice pearl for 100 pearls found. And one nice quality used for jewellery, like you saw in the different necklaces, for example, for 100 nice quality pearls. So it means 10 millions of oysters for one good quality, exceptional Dana or G1 pearls. So that's why we need and you need to protect the bank, because if you take everything, of course, you will not have the renewal of the bank enough to find a new pearl. So it's a scientific research developed in your country. But it's not again purely on statistics. There is a lot of indigenous know-how. People know which oyster beds produce which quality of pearls. And previously, that know-how was inherited and most likely kept as a secret by the people. Today, it's a GPS coordinate. But it's still that know-how that really transcends with this industry that I think, you know, should be taken into account and not just purely statistics. Yes, that's why we need to dive next time together because you know where are the nice places. I will share some places. Okay, some places. And the other question, which is very interesting also, why they open or do they open oysters inside the boat? I think it depends, but you will maybe precise, depends on the way they were fishing. If it is a long campaign of fishing, they prefer to open directly on the boat because of the smell, of course. So they prefer to open directly on the boat and to find if there is nice pearl. So they know if they have a good campaign or not. And if it is a short campaign, if they go just for few days or few weeks, they can bring everything to the sea shop because they need to go really, really fast. Another question dedicated to pearls and music because, you know, we appreciate also music at l'École, School of Jewellery and Art. What is the name of these songs sung by people working in the pearl industry? So we refer to it as Nehmeh. So this type of music that is purely on the vocal ability of individuals. So the Nehmeh has minimal instruments because it was practiced on the Dao and in the Dao as well as, you know, the space is precious, it's congested. You only take what you absolutely need for your livelihood for, you know, to make things comfortable. But during the off-season, when the divers are on land basically awaiting the next season, we have the form which is called Fjiri, which uses some instruments because people are practicing it not necessarily on the boat, but practicing it in their households or in the music houses or what we call Dour, which is a space dedicated for musicians to meet. And it keeps divers entertained even when they're not diving. So it is a community that remains intact even off-season. And I think this is what gives it its particularity. It is those human connections that you have between the different components of the people working in the industry. And maybe we can also remind to our colleagues and friends that the Dour, because we use this name of the boat, used by the fishermen to be precise. Thank you very much. Another question perhaps for you, Léonard. What is the largest pearl ever found? Well, it depends on the type of pearl you're talking about. As you probably all know, any mollusk, any shell can produce a pearl. If we are talking about an oyster pearl, it will not have the same size as a Benitié, which is already a huge shell, which can produce very large ones. I think the largest bio-mineral known is the Pearl of Hala, which is not an oyster pearl, which is not made in an oyster like the one you could find in Bahrain, which are mostly Pinta de Arariata. Among those pearls that we are talking about, some of the largest would be the Peregrina, which comes actually from Central America, from the coast of Mexico, which used to belong to the Habsburg family of Spain, and then to Elizabeth Taylor, as you probably know. There's also the Dudley Pearl, the Hope Pearl, the Regent Pearl. There have been many, many famous, very large pearls in history, but the Peregrina would be one of the biggest actually known. Yes, and just to add, you're right, it depends really on the size of the oyster. Pinta de Arariata, as we said, produces quite a small oyster. So if you have Pinta de Maxima, that could be, hence the name, quite large. In Australia, for example, the Australia region, you can find very large pearls, or Pinta de Masatlanica, which is a larger oyster in Central America, where you can find the Peregrina. So it's a good way to understand. And since they're so rare, you will never look for the same quality, the same effect as a regular pearl, so it would be quite exceptional. Thank you very much. Perhaps the last question, does the merchant also be a designer? It's very interesting. If the merchant creates also jewels? I think traditionally, those roles were segmented. So the merchant provides the loose pearls, and then they are transferred to traders and then to jewelers. Today, we have a contemporary pearling culture in Bahrain, where you actually have the jewelers have an extensive stock of pearls. They have direct contact with individual divers that can supply them directly. So they oversee the process from the oyster up until the showcase and the boutique. And it's a contemporary way of the industry. And I think it's healthy not just to repeat exactly how things were in the past, but to see, as you know, with every industry, it needs to be updated and reflective of the modern economy. Thank you very much, Céline. Thanks, Léonard. Thank you very much for all this precious information. So of course, if you have more questions, because I know you have always many, many questions, we will answer and send to you some information. Thanks again. I think we have now time for more discovery of this exhibition together. We welcome you very soon in Paris. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.