Mother-of-pearl carving in Bethlehem Red Sea. Today, however, Australia, California, New Zealand and Brazil are the main exporters. The first exhibition in the west of mother-of-pearl artifacts from Palestine was at The World Fair in New York in 1852. Two brothers, Giries and Ibrahim Mansur, exhibited their work and were a great success. Present day products, include crosses, earrings, brooches and picture frames. 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
Pearl body Pearl body Pearl bodies are small (0.5 - 3.0 mm), lustrous, pearl-like food bodies produced from the epidermis of leaves, petioles and shoots of certain plants. They are rich in lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, and are sought after by various arthropods and ants, that carry out vigorous protection of the plant against herbivores, thus functioning as a biotic defence. They are globose or club-shaped on short peduncles, easily detached from the plant, and are food sources in the same sense as Beltian bodies, Müllerian bodies, Beccarian bodies, Coccid secretions and nectaries. They occur in at least 19 plant families (1982)