Japanese Cultured...the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Historical Soci - ety. He is...
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かに道楽 SHIRAKAWA ST HIGASHI-OJI ST KYOTO CITY BUS 5, 204 バス停北白川校前 Kitashirakawako-mae KANIDORAKU KYOTO CITY BUS 5, 17, 32, 100, 102, 203, 204 バス停銀閣寺道 Ginkakuji-michi 京都大学 KYOTO UNIVERSITY 白川通東大路通IMADEGAWA ST 今出川通 MIKAGE ST 御蔭通 東アジア人文情報学研究センター INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES CHION-JI TEMPLE 知恩寺 SHIGAGOEMICHI ST 志賀越道 Thursday, October 31st 18:00h William G. Clarence-Smith SPEAKER Various entrepreneurs experimented with produc- ing cultured pearls from the early 1890s, but it was only after the First World War that Japan began to export round specimens on any scale. The arrival of relatively cheap Japanese cultured pearls on the world market alarmed established dealers in natural pearls, as well as producers, leading to a series of counter-measures and lawsuits. Paris, then the de facto capital of the Western world’s pearling econo- my, witnessed the most protracted and bitter disputes, which lasted almost to the end of the inter- war years. At the centre of the storm was Lucien Pohl, who acted as the Paris agent of Mikimoto Kokichi, the most significant Japanese exporter of cultured pearls. Pohl came from a family of Alsatian Jewish traders, who had set up shop in Yokohama shortly after the Meiji Restoration. Pohl battled the French association of jewellers, who developed a series of scientific techniques to distinguish between the two types of pearls, and who sought to have cultured pearls legally designated as ‘fake’ or ‘imitation’ goods. In the end, a compromise was reached, whereby cultured pearls had to be clearly labelled as such, but could be freely sold. William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Emeritus Professor of History, SOAS University of London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Historical Soci- ety. He is researching pearling around the world, with a chapter forthcoming in Pearls, people, and power: pearl- ing and Indian Ocean worlds, Ohio University Press. He also works on sponges, whales, and fish, and, more broadly, on beverages, masticatories, narcotics, manu- facturing, diasporas, slavery, sexuality, and Islam. With Ed Emery, he has organized SOAS-based conferences on non-human animals since 2010, on donkeys, mules, war-horses, camels, elephants, and sponges. The French Campaign Against Imports of Japanese Cultured Pearls in the Interwar Years Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’Asia Orientale ISEAS École Française d’Extrême-Orient EFEO EFEO | Tel. 075-701-0882 E-mail [email protected] ISEAS | Tel. 075-703-3015 E-mail [email protected] École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS) 29 Betto-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8276 Japan
Transcript of Japanese Cultured...the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Historical Soci - ety. He is...
かに道楽
SHIR
AKA
WA
ST
HIG
ASH
I-OJI
ST
KYOTO CITY BUS 5, 204
バス停北白川校前Kitashirakawako-mae
KANIDORAKU
KYOTO CITY BUS5, 17, 32, 100, 102, 203, 204
バス停銀閣寺道Ginkakuji-michi京都大学KYOTO UNIVERSITY
白川通
東大路通 IMADEGAWA ST 今出川通
MIKAGE ST 御蔭通
東アジア人文情報学研究センター
INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCHIN HUMANITIES
CHION-JI TEMPLE知恩寺
SHIGAGOEMICHI ST志賀越道
Thursday, October 31st 18:00hWilliam G. Clarence-Smith SPEAKER
Various entrepreneurs experimented with produc-ing cultured pearls from the early 1890s, but it was only after the First World War that Japan began to export round specimens on any scale. The arrival of relatively cheap Japanese cultured pearls on the world market alarmed established dealers in natural pearls, as well as producers, leading to a series of counter-measures and lawsuits. Paris, then the de facto capital of the Western world’s pearling econo-my, witnessed the most protracted and bitter disputes, which lasted almost to the end of the inter-war years. At the centre of the storm was Lucien Pohl, who acted as the Paris agent of Mikimoto Kokichi, the most signi�cant Japanese exporter of cultured pearls. Pohl came from a family of Alsatian Jewish traders, who had set up shop in Yokohama shortly after the Meiji Restoration. Pohl battled the French association of jewellers, who developed a series of scienti�c techniques to distinguish between the two types of pearls, and who sought to have cultured pearls legally designated as ‘fake’ or ‘imitation’ goods. In the end, a compromise was reached, whereby cultured pearls had to be clearly labelled as such, but could be freely sold.
William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Emeritus Professor of History, SOAS University of London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Royal Historical Soci-ety. He is researching pearling around the world, with a chapter forthcoming in Pearls, people, and power: pearl-ing and Indian Ocean worlds, Ohio University Press. He also works on sponges, whales, and �sh, and, more broadly, on beverages, masticatories, narcotics, manu-facturing, diasporas, slavery, sexuality, and Islam. With Ed Emery, he has organized SOAS-based conferences on non-human animals since 2010, on donkeys, mules, war-horses, camels, elephants, and sponges.
The FrenchCampaign
Against Imports ofJapanese Cultured
Pearls in theInterwar Years
Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’Asia Orientale ISEAS
École Française d’Extrême-OrientEFEO
EFEO | Tel. 075-701-0882 E-mail [email protected] | Tel. 075-703-3015 E-mail [email protected]
École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS) 29 Betto-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8276 Japan
