Skullpearl

I have run out of time today, so I am going to put up the tiniest post.  Here is a tiny jeweled charm: a pearl which has been carved into a death’s head.  Best of all, the little novelty skull is wearing a tiny silver crown.  Not only does this succeed in combining two items from the Ferrebeekeeper category list, it also looks like an apprentice’s magical item from a fantasy novel. At first I thought this was a glorious one-off, but it seems like carving pearls into tiny skulls is big business these days.  You could buy a whole necklace and pretend to be Manjushri.  A number of the carvers are Japanese, so I speculate that this art descended from the very similar school of netsuke carving (where skulls are also popular), but I really don’t know.  If anybody has any insights, I am all ears!