The history of natural pearls is so intertwined with the Arabian Gulf, it is almost impossible to think of one without the other.
For millennia, these waters were the world’s most prolific source of natural pearls. Until the mid-20th century, as much as 80 per cent of all natural pearls were harvested here, cradled inside the diminutive Pinctada radiata, more commonly known as the Gulf pearl oyster. It was enough for the Gemological Institute of America to pronounce the region as “the most important source for natural pearls”.
Few know this legacy more intimately than Faten Mattar. The sixth generation of a Bahraini family that traces its pearling roots to 1850, Mattar is now the brand and communications director of her family business. For her, pearls are not simply objects of adornment, but heirlooms of identity. “The lustre of a Gulf pearl – its creamy white tones, subtle golden undertones and translucent depth – is unmistakable,” she says. “They are unlike anything else.”
This signature radiance was once so sought-after that Gulf pearls found their way into the finest European collections, often via India, though the trail was largely undocumented. “The majority of the pearls would go to India and then from India to the West,” she explains. Family ledgers recorded the sales to Indian traders, but where they journeyed to after remains a mystery. “The link is lost,” Mattar concedes. “But when we see the pearls in the British royal collection, in their crowns and necklaces – we know. Those came from here.”
Some records, however, remain, such as the Bahraini pearl-drop earrings now worn by Kate, Princess of Wales, that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II. In 1947, during then-Princess Elizabeth’s visit to Bahrain, the Emir, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad, presented her with seven important pearls. “Those, we know for certain, they were Bahraini,” says Mattar. Likewise, the pearl earrings worn recently by Jordanian Princess Rajwa and the pearl-covered clutch carried by Queen Rania were both purchased from Mattar directly.
In the region, it is a livelihood as old as time, and predates modern royalty by thousands of years. In 2017, the world’s oldest-known pearl – about 8,000 years old – was discovered on Marawah Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi. In Bahrain, archaeological excavations reveal a pearling tradition that stretches back more than three millennia, captivating empires and rulers, from Persian princesses to Roman elites. Julius Caesar also deemed them a privilege of rank.
The early 20th century saw Jacques Cartier voyage to Bahrain, in search of gems to satisfy Europe’s insatiable appetite for pearls. And even further back, mythology gestures to the Gulf’s long-held mystique. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written more than 4,000 years ago, recounts its hero diving into the sea to retrieve a “flower of immortality” from the island of Dilmun – long thought to be a myth, until archaeologists Thomas Geoffrey Bibby and Peter Vilhelm Glob discovered its ruins beneath modern-day Manama in 1953. It is not hard to imagine that flower, glimmering beneath the waves, may well have been a pearl.
Today, Bahrain continues to nurture its pearling heritage with a sense of guardianship. “Our mandate,” Mattar says, “is to get everyone to wear natural pearls.” Her father expanded the family business two decades ago, moving beyond wholesale into fine jewellery, also using smaller or baroque (non-spherical) pearls to make these natural treasures more accessible. But the process is anything but simple.
“People don’t realise how rare they are,” Mattar says. A natural pearl forms when a mollusc slowly coats an intruding particle – typically sand – with layers of calcium carbonate. This process, unhurried and unpredictable, can take months or even years. Only one in 10,000 oysters might produce a pearl of any value. Matching pearls by size, shape, colour and lustre therefore is a task of almost monastic patience. “Each piece of jewellery is designed around the pearls – not the other way around.”
This devotion to the material means that a single necklace can take years to assemble. A perfectly graduated strand – each pearl subtly decreasing in size from the centre, aligned in hue and glow requires both patience and foresight. “For bigger pearls, the wait can go from one generation to the next.”
The Mattar family buys pearls directly from Gulf divers to this day. “People assume there are no more natural pearls,” Mattar says. “But we buy them every day.” The unpredictability is both a challenge and a charm – neither diver nor jeweller knows what the sea will yield.
Their expertise has made them trusted consultants to institutions and maisons alike. When Van Cleef & Arpels’s L’École jewellery school developed a pearl curriculum, they turned to Mattar.
In 2018, the family participated in the 5,000 Years of Pearls from Bahrain exhibition, which brought together treasures from the National Museum of Bahrain and the Cartier Collection. More recently, in 2024, the Pearl Museum in Muharraq displayed pieces from the family’s private archives – including a delicate scarf crafted from 500 grams of near-identical pale cream pearls, scattered with rubies, emeralds and diamonds. Stringing alone took 72 hours. “We had some very important pieces that don’t usually see the light of day,” Mattar says, with evident pride.
The Arabian Gulf’s pearls possess an opalescence – as light suspended in layers of nacre – that is coveted the world over. Today, the legacy is in the hands of new custodians, but the magic – the incandescent allure that once captivated queens, emperors and poets – remains as luminous as ever.
