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Bethlehem, Palestine
The Zoughbi family in Bethlehem was well known for the art of mother of pearl crafting in particular, and in other art forms in general. Two of their sons of the Issa Zoughbi were Bishara (1863-1934) and Yousef (1878-1964). They were artistically well known for two special skills:

1.      Their exceptional abilities to innovate new designs for large art mother-of-pearl works, especially Yousef.

2.      Their leadership and communication abilities and not only on the local Bethlehem level, but beyond and on the international level. This opened doors for their works, and of works of other fellow artists, in several royal palaces, organizations and museums: European and other international. Bishara was the better known in this regard.

Bishara was a very well-known and respected personality of Bethlehem, and was addressed as “Mikhtar Al-Makhateer” (Chief of the Elders). He opened his workshop of mother of pearl and olive wood in 1876, at a very early age (even before the birth if his brother Yousef), supported by his father then. Later his brother Yousef after growing up and getting trained, joined the workshop as partner.

The Workshop focused on both tracks: mother of peal and olive wood. Many local artists worked under the supervision of Bishara at that time. During the next five decades many exceptional works were produced for which he was decorated highly, such as frim the Kaiser of Russia, Emperor of Austria,  The Vatican, Emperor of Ethiopia, King of Greece, President of Columbia and others. His brother Yousef became also very well know for detailed and high artistic works and was decorated also from The Shah of Iran, King of Holland, Grand Maharaj of Kashmir, King of Egypt and others too.

The Family of Bishara was a family of art. Among his sons, Michael was a skilled designer and carver of olive wood artifacts. His youngest son Issa was a very talented painter, especially in oil painting and has many paintings owned by several organizations and individuals. He was also the first photogra0gher in Bethlehem. One other son of Bishara, Rafael, died young in an airplane crash while flying back from Russia, as he was one of the main designers of Russian imperial medals. In fact the works of both brothers, were very well known in European countries, and that helped show the Bethlehem and for that matter Palestinian Arts achievements internationally in a time Palestine was not known except for being an agricultural country in addition to the reputation of the Holy Land sites.

After the passing of Bishara, his son Gregory (1908-1994) continued the workshop progress, and kept producing large works of mother of pearl in the main style of his father and uncle. His art was well appreciated by the Royal Court of Jordan, and he was commissioned to produce royal mother-of-pearl gifts from the King Hussein of Jordan to present as gifts to visiting heads of state. Among these are for example coat of arms and other works for King Saud of Saudia Arabia, King Mohammed 5thof Morocco, President Bourguiba of Tunisia, President Charles Hilou of Lebanon, General Mohammed Naguib of Egypt, Shah Riza Pahlavi of Iran, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Pope Paul VI and others. He was also asked to produce a large model of the Dome of the Rock of Jerusalem in mother of pearl that was exhibited in the Jordanian pavilion of the New York World Fair and officially opened by Kind Hussain in 1964. His last work was a replica of the Dome of the Rock in mother of pearl that Queen Nour of Jordan gave as a gift to Kind Hussein, a couple of years before the King passed away.