Perfume

Perfume (or fragrance) bottles offer an intriguing glimpse into the history of man. In the past, they just weren’t treated as mere containers for the scents that they held. Perfume bottles from those times attempted to empower the fragrances within them. They used design, color and symbology impart this meaning.

For example, ancient Egyptians used glass bottles to hold perfumes. The bottles were sculpted and decorated in such as way as to define what the fragrance they held did for those who wore it. In fact, the Egyptians colored the glass perfume bottles according to the colors of the gems in the area. Each related to a spiritual property that they believed infused into the contents that it held.

If a bottle from this era was colored turquoise or green for example, it meant that the perfume within could impart life-long health, joy, and, of course, life in the after-world to the wearer. Red perfume bottles indicated fragrances conferring energy and life. To further stress the spiritual value of their perfume bottles, the artisans crafted the containers according to religious rules set by high officials of the time.

Has this philosophy of infusing a perfume bottle’s design with its contents disappeared? Not exactly. In fact, Barcelona’s perfume museum displays a myriad of perfume bottles to show just how closely man has clung to this belief throughout the centuries.

The perfume bottles on display strongly resemble the fine art of the time and culture in which it was produced. For example, the few fragrance bottles from ancient Greece are similar to the painted vases of the time. Even some of the beauty cologne bottles in ancient Egypt look like the small yet intricate statues of that time. Ancient Islamic scent bottles are designed with equally complex patterns of unique shapes, florals, and some animals.

With but a little information from art history, it should not be hard to guess which fragrance bottles come from a particular region or culture. The artists of those times repeated symbolic imagery in almost everything. From wall paintings to sculpture, and clothing to perfume bottles, beliefs and customs of the particular culture are present.

But what about now? Today’s beauty cologne bottles lack the intricacy and embellishment executed by individual artisans of antiquity. Yet, they still manage to say something about the current culture. Simpler in design and smoothly surfaced, today’s fragrance bottles present an overall sleek appearance.

Perhaps, there could be no better way to illustrate the post-Modern world. This world, which attempts to do so much without superfluous imagery or bulky appearance, surely reflects it in those small items held precious. Today’s society is concerned with function but, still, beauty.

It is the fragrance products within the bottles that our culture is most concerned during this generation. Whether or not the perfumes promise a place in heaven is irrelevant. No one expects the fragrance to impart health, wealth and happiness. Perfumes in such elegant, yet simple, bottles retain their value for the beautiful feelings they evoke in daily living.