La Peregrina, 'the wanderer' or 'the pilgrim' in Spanish, is among the most thoroughly documented natural pearls in history. It is a pear-shaped natural pearl of approximately 50.56 carats (203.84 grains, post-Sotheby's restringing), with a fine white body and exceptional orient, and its provenance can be traced from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day across four and a half centuries of European royal and aristocratic ownership. It was sold by Sotheby's New York on 13 December 2011 for 11.842 million U.S. dollars, then a record price for a natural pearl, as part of the Elizabeth Taylor jewellery sale.

Discovery and Spanish royal ownership

The traditional account, dating to the sixteenth century, holds that the pearl was discovered around 1513 by an enslaved African diver in the Gulf of Panama, on the Pacific coast of what is now Panama, and brought to the Spanish Crown. King Philip II of Spain presented the pearl to Mary I of England (Mary Tudor) on the occasion of their marriage in 1554. Several portraits of Mary I, including those by Hans Eworth and the Antonio Moro studio, show her wearing the pearl as a pendant from a brooch or as part of a more elaborate setting, providing some of the earliest documentary evidence of its appearance. After Mary's death in 1558 the pearl was returned to the Spanish royal collection and was worn by successive Spanish queens, including the consorts of Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II.

The Bonaparte interlude

The pearl left the Spanish royal collection during the Napoleonic occupation. Joseph Bonaparte, installed by his brother as King of Spain (1808-1813), took La Peregrina with him when the French were forced to retreat from Spain. He bequeathed it to Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. After the fall of the Second Empire in 1870, Napoleon III, in exile in England, sold the pearl to James Hamilton, Marquess of Abercorn, in 1873, and it remained in the Hamilton-Abercorn family until 1969.

Sotheby's 1969 and Elizabeth Taylor

The pearl was offered for sale at Sotheby's London in 1969, where it was purchased by Richard Burton for 37,000 U.S. dollars as a Valentine's Day gift for Elizabeth Taylor. Burton's 1969 acquisition was widely reported and became one of the iconic gestures of his marriage to Taylor. The pearl was set by Cartier into a necklace of pearls, rubies and diamonds designed by Taylor herself, with the pearl as the principal pendant. After Taylor's death in 2011 the necklace was sold by Christie's New York (December 2011 sale) for 11.842 million U.S. dollars, securing for La Peregrina the highest price ever paid for a natural pearl at the time.

Distinction from La Pelegrina

La Peregrina is to be distinguished from the separate Russian-collection pearl La Pelegrina, with which it has been confused in older literature. The two pearls are different objects with non-overlapping documented provenances. La Peregrina is the larger, has the older and better-documented chain of custody, and is the pearl of the Spanish royal portraits and of the Burton-Taylor narrative. La Pelegrina was a Romanov-collection pearl, sold by the Soviet government, reappearing at Christie's 1987 and 2018.

Origin and species

The traditional origin of La Peregrina is the Gulf of Panama, and the pearl is therefore presumed to be the product of Pinctada mazatlanica, the principal large pearl oyster of the eastern Pacific waters of Central America. Modern published analyses of La Peregrina sufficient to confirm the species and origin are not in the open scientific literature, but the historical record is consistent and Sotheby's and Christie's have catalogued it on that basis. The pearl's age (over 500 years from formation, more than 470 from documented existence) is itself extraordinary among natural pearls of this size.

Significance

La Peregrina is the natural pearl most thoroughly woven into European royal portraiture, the most-changed-of-hands across the early-modern and modern periods, and the most photographed in the contemporary period through the medium of the Burton-Taylor jewellery narrative. Its documented provenance is exceptional even by the standards of historic natural pearls. Its 2011 sale price established a benchmark for the natural-pearl market that remains a reference point in the trade, and the Cartier-Taylor mounting itself has been studied as a successful example of integrating a centuries-old gem into a twentieth-century design.