Pearl of the Indies

The Indo-Portuguese mother-of-pearl casket seen here was made in Gujarat in the 16th century.

The Portuguese historian Gaspar Correa was the first to mention the Indian state as a center for mother-of-pearl craftsmanship (later published by the Hakluyt Society as in 1869). He wrote of a gift given to Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who led the first European expedition to sail directly to India, by the King of Melinde, on the East Coast of Africa. It was “bedstead of Cambay, wrought with gold and mother of pearl, a very beautiful thing.”