Large pintadine mother-of-pearl inlay dated August 1893 and signed Jean-Baptiste BERT, depicting three distraught women with long hair flowing into the waves, raising their arms in a plea for help toward a three-masted ship in the distance. H.: 24.8 cm, W.: 20.7 cm New Caledonia—Penal Colony—Late 19th or early 20th century. Jean-Baptiste BERT, sentenced to eight years in the penal colony for theft and attempted theft at the age of 20, “subject, upon completion of his sentence, to supervision by the police for ten years,” and sentenced to a 20-year ban on residence following an escape attempt.