Mother-of-pearl carving in Bethlehem Mother-of-pearl carving in Bethlehem Mother-of-Pearl carving, a traditional handicraft in Bethlehem, is said to have been brought to the city by Franciscan friars from Italy in the 15th century. Bethlehem's position as an important Christian city has for centuries attracted a constant stream of pilgrims. This generated much local work and income, also for women, including making mother-of-pearl souvenirs. According to Weir, Bethlehem women's employment in the mother-of-pearl industry goes back at least to the seventeenth century. It was noted by Richard Pococke, who travelled there in 1727. Previously, most of the oysters for the mother-of-pearl supply came from the
The Pearl of Love and colder" "sense of colour", and, wearying "altogether of carvings and pictures and inlaid ornamentation", has them "put aside". The prince comes "to care . . . more and more" for "a great aisle" that permits "a vista" of, "the snowy wildernesses of the great mountain, the lord of all mountains, two hundred miles away." All who look upon the Pearl of Love are "exalted", yet the prince feels that, "The Pearl of Love had still something for him to do . . . before his task was done." He realizes that the problem is "a certain disproportion about the