Today our regular column “Audio Stories” features mother-of-pearl and its usage.

The museum Collection Repository presents a voluminous list of objects decorated with mother-of-pearl. Miniature snuff boxes and music boxes with singing birds, table clocks and writing sets, necessaires for needlework and musical instruments, this is by no means a complete list.

Moreover, you will be acquainted with the existing varieties of mother-of-pearl, will learn how nature creates this unusual stone, the way, it is extracted and in what regions, how this ornamental stone is used by jewellers and craftsmen.

A new themed exhibition, “The Order of Things”, was recently launched in the museum Collection. This exhibition will enable you to take a lyrical journey into a world of unhurried leisure and recreation. Looking at the amazing objects presented at this exhibition, one can immerse in the atmosphere of serenity and peace in the rush of modern life. The exhibition features items from the collection section “Decorative Arts and Jewellery” that are richly embellished with mother-of-pearl, antique printed matter and musical mechanical instruments and objects, which are the hallmark of the museum.

You can get a closer look at the items exhibited at “The Order of Things” exhibition in the museum Photo Gallery.
To sign up for a guided tour through “The Order of Things” exhibition  you should address the museum's website section 'Contact information'.

On the cover: Music box. Great Britain, Newcastle. 1868