Antique Moss Agate Patch Box
Mrs. W. R. Furlong’s Collection
Moss Agate Basket
William Howat Collection
“’Tis a valley paved with golden sands,
With pearls and nacre shells.”
Sylvester (1605) Trans. Du Bartas.
Nacre or Mother of Pearl is the inner layer of various molluscs and is more particularly applied to the Meleagrina Margaritifera or large oyster shell in which the precious pearl is formed. The French call it Mère Perle, and it is found written as Moder Perl, Mother Perle, Mother Pearle. Nacre is said to have derived its name from the Persian word NIGAR, painting, because of the iridescent colours displayed, but Dr. Murray, although remarking on its probable Oriental origin, regards its derivation as uncertain. Various forms are noted, as: nackre, nacker, nakre, naker, and there is no doubt of its antique application. Hoole in 1658 wrote that “the oyster affordeth sweet meat—the nacre pearls.” Mythologically the Mother of Pearl shell is symbolical of Latona or Leto “goddess of the dark night,” mother of the Sun god Apollo and the Moon goddess Artemis or Diana. She, as ancient story tells, whilst fleeing from the fury of Hera, Queen of Heaven, reached an island rock, driven about by the restless waves, which when solidly fixed by Neptune became the famous island of the Ægean Sea—Delos. Here were born the radiant twins Apollo and Artemis in a flood of golden light whilst the sacred swans encircled the island seven times. The golden light, so powerful at this event, is the light which at conjunction (new moon) blends with the silvery light of the night orb. The Pearl Shell like its child, the pearl, is always associated with female life which in astro-philosophy is moon-ruled. The natives of Western Australia, hidden in the bushes, charmed women by the aid of the reflected light from the shell of the mother of pearl. These big shells are thick, flat and roundish, in size often as much as a foot in diameter. The two varieties are known as black-lipped and silver-lipped, and within them rests the protected pearl. The pearl shell is greatly in demand for the manufacture of many and varied articles of commerce. It is under the celestial Cancer—the mansion of the moon and the sign of the deep ocean.
“Many of the Indians wore pieces of Greenstone round their necks which were transparent and resembled an emerald. These being examined, appeared to be a species of nephrite stone.”