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Egyptian Perfume Oils from Pharaoh to France
Relief
from Tomb of Pharaoh Horemheb showing perfume cones on the heads of the
guests.
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Perfume ungents were discovered in Egyptian graves that date from the time of the Unification. The perfume oils were made by covering flowers in goose grease or other fats and imparting the fragrance to the oil. This is a far cry from the bottles of French perfume we use to splash on scent, today. The elite Egyptian women used these ungents, or oils, by scooping out a quantity and spreading it on their person. Scenes also show the wearing of cones of fragrant oils atop their wigs. The solidified oil, or perhaps wax, would melt as the evening wore on, releasing the fragrance. |
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Delicate perfume spoons were carved to facilitate this part of the ladies toilette. Four such spoons are shown on this page. In the early graves, oils were kept in pottery jars. But later stone jars and pots were made to contain the ungents. In the Tomb of Tutankhamen a comical lion shaped perfume pot was part of the boy kings treasures. These perfume oils were highly valued and very portable, so they were often the target of thieves. The fragrant scent of flowers must have often accompanied the tomb robbers as they rushed out of the Valley of the Kings to conceal their "ill gotten gains".
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The flowers for the perfumes came from areas like the Faiyum where they are still grown today. The earliest Egyptians moved toward the Nile as grass lands and forest dried out in climate change and brought the love of fragrance and thus the horticulture of flowers with them. However, perfume, as we know it, was not developed until the the Arabs developed a process of distillation in the 7th century. Then perfume oils and scented waters could be made. The French began developing perfume in the mid 1600's and the trade bonds between the French and Egypt would have only become stronger after Napoleon invaded in the late 1700's. |
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The French would have then had ample materials to experiment on this new product. Georgian England was awash with scent. And the thriving trade of perfumes between France and the rest of the world continued through revolution and attempts at world domination. Today, still, many of those famous French perfumes that we know have component oils that come from the Faiyum in Egypt. And owners of shops in Cairo will speak fondly of wearing the flowing white Arab robes around the streets of Paris when making their sales calls.
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