May

Russian pearl jewelry

A “mushka” is a traditional cap worn by the russian Jewesse women through South and Little Russia even as far as Galicia. It not only an expensive piece of jewelry but is also a mark of beauty that is past trought generations from mother to daughter. Worn something like a big tiara, the “mushka” represensts also the wellfortune of the wearer.

This cap, with very unimportant modifications, has almost always the same form; the only difference is that, in the case of the wealthy, the pearls are larger, and sometimes a number of small pearls and precious stones are suspended here and there, set in the same way as earrings.

In order to furnish the requisite material for this wide spread fashion, the commerce in pearls of Odessa, Taganrog and some other places in southern Russia is very important. They are for the most part, oriental and come by way of Turkey and Odessa or else by way of Armenia and Tiflis.

Here is an old drawing of an woman wearing a “mushka”, a pearl choker (tight-necklace) and fancy pearl earrings in the 17th Century: