Antique Air Fresheners

 

QUESTION: Recently, my father died. For as long as I can remember, my father gave a small ceramic fantasy-like cottage pride of place. My mother said he wanted me to have it. There’s a large hole in the back. At first I thought it was a candleholder, but my mother told me that an older woman friend of his send it to him from Haiti, where she had gone on a cruise. The odd thing about this gift was that it took a long time to be delivered and arrived after the woman had died. Can you tell me anything about this little cottage—how old is it, what was it used for?

ANSWER: What your father received is called a pastille burner–-a little device that made rooms more fragrant in the past. By its appearance, it probably came from one of the potteries in Staffordshire, England. 

Times past weren’t always fragrant. While air fresheners come in all shapes and sizes today, back then people used various ways to cover up the noxious odors which permeated the environment. Scent vinaigrettes, pomanders and perfumed handkerchiefs were effective enough while out and about in the streets of a city.

Bronze pastille burner Regency

By the 16th century, a special device had been developed to release a pleasant scent into the air in the home. These devices, called pastille burners, had become quite popular in aristocratic homes during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. By 1811, most upper class homes had at least one pastille burner, and some of the better ones had  more than one.

The word pastille dates back to the 15th century. It takes its name from the Latin word, pastillus, meaning a small roll or little loaf of bread. Initially, pastilles were tiny lozenges compounded of aromatic herbs blended with a sweetener which people used to freshen their breath. In the mid-16th century, pastille makers produced them to be burned in order to release pleasant scents into the air of an upper class home.

Ceramic pastille burner Wedgwood

But these new pastilles weren’t made commercially until well into the reign of Queen Victoria. Before that, servants made pastilles in the still rooms of the homes of the aristocracy and the gentry using a recipe provided by the lady of the house. These scent pastilles consisted of finely ground charcoal, saltpeter, a binder, and a fragrance. People preferred charcoal made of willow wood because it could be finely powdered and burned evenly without an abundance of smoke. They blended this with saltpeter to ensure the charcoal would continue to burn once it was lit. The binder was most often Gum Arabic or Gum Tragacanth, either of which they added to the powdered charcoal and saltpeter mixture in the amount necessary to create a stiff dough. The addition of either of these gums would ensure the pastilles remained firm once they had dried. 

The makers added the fragrance last, in the form of an essential oil, which had been distilled in the still room at some time prior to the making of the scent pastilles. Among the most popular scents were lavender, rose, jasmine, sandalwood and cedar, though there were a few recipes which included more expensive fragrances, such as myrrh, frankincense and orris.

Pastille cones

After blending the fragrance oil into the pastille dough, servants pressed it into a number of small, conical molds. In most cases, these molds would produce scent pastilles which were about a half inch in diameter and about one and a half inches tall, though there were some which were larger. They then left the scent pastilles  in the molds to dry for at least two days, though for larger pastilles, it took three to four days. Once the scent pastilles were fully dry, the small, hardened cones could be removed from the molds. They would then be ready to use. The fully dry scent pastilles were most often stored in air-tight containers to keep them dry and to help retain their fragrance until needed.

Early bronze pastille burner

Early pastille burner makers used bronze or brass and sometimes silver to make them. But by the second half of the 18th century, potteries began producing them in porcelain, which didn’t get as hot as the metal ones. Also, potters could easily mold porcelain, offering a wide variety of shapes to work with. And the growing palette of glaze colors made it possible to produce very colorful and highly decorative pastille burners.

At first, porcelain manufacturers produced burners in the same shapes as those of the early metal burners. Soon wealthier customers asked for pastille burners to complement the garnitures, or fireplace mantel sets, so as to camouflage the purpose of the burners. Others wanted decorative burners for their bedrooms. By the 1760s, many porcelain manufacturers began producing shapes molded to represent things of every day life, such as fruits and vegetables, animals and flowers. They also took inspiration for their burners from various buildings, from rural churches and cottages to ancient castles. Wealthy landowners commissioned porcelain copies of interesting buildings on their properties.

Building shapes offered open windows, enabling the pastille itself to burn steadily. And one with a chimney allowed a way for the white smoke given off by the pastille as it burned. By the end of the 18th century, rustic buildings such as the cottage orné became a popular as a form for pastille burners. Cottages orné were typically rustic cottages set in an attractive and secluded rural setting.

During the first decade of the 19th century, dove cotes, gate-keeper’s lodges, dairy houses and intricate, flower-covered summer houses had become popular forms for pastille burners. Other country building types included toll houses, churches, and castles, often covered with vines and colorful flowers. 

Sliding tray pastille holder

There were several ways the pastille could be placed inside the burner. In some, the user could remove the roof of the building, in others, the entire building could be lifted off its base. And in others the user could pull out a flat tray for the pastille out of one side of the building. Burner manufacturers often concealed these small slides as a bow window, an external chimney breast, or the gable wall side of a building.

Removeable chimney pastille holder

Back in the early 19th century, matches hadn’t been invented yet, so people used a spill, a long, thin sliver of wood or a twisted length of scrap paper, usually stored in small vases made especially for them and kept on the mantle near the pastille burner. The user would light the spill from the fire in the room, or by use of a tinderbox, and then hold it to the tip of the pastille cone until it caught fire. A one and one half inch tall pastille cone would usually burn for about 20 minutes, giving off its scent along with a thin white smoke. The scent could linger in the room for another 20 to 30 minutes once the pastille had burned out.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Aroma of Beauty

 

QUESTIONS: I’ve always loved the look and variety of antique perfume bottles. Since most of these are small, they’re often overlooked in the cases of smalls at flea markets and antique shows. It takes determination to seek them out. I’d love to know more about the history of perfumes, as well as some history about perfume containers.

ANSWERS: The Egyptians were the first to use perfume, but not for personal, everyday use.  They utilized scents to celebrate prayers and religious ceremony by burning essential oils, resin, and perfumed unguents.

Early civilizations used perfumes—usually aromatic resins and oils, burned to release an aroma—to scent the air. The Latin term “per fumum” means “through smoke” which is where the name ‘Perfume’ came from. 

In ancient Greece, common people began using perfumes as part of their daily hygiene. The ancient Egyptians traded spices, aromas, and resins abundant in Egypt, as well as those  imported from the Middle East, Arabia and India. Myrrh and incense made up some of the main ingredients of the scents of the time.

For much of recorded history, perfumes were only available to aristocrats and the wealthy. By the late 18th century, perfumes were in common use among the upper classes, and it didn’t take long to become de rigueur for the fashionable set, both male and female. In 1856, Harper’s Monthly railed against overuse of scents by men, calling the practice "foppish, effeminate, a waste of money, and a foolish gratification of sensual appetite."

After the Civil War, a variety of cheap perfumes came on the market. Such labels as Little Tot, American Girl, Boudoir, Bridal Bouquet, Duchess Ladies, Sensible, Home Sweet Home, Bow Wow, and Happy Family were common. By far the most popular, however, was the Hoyt's 5-Center, sold over general store counters everywhere. Hoyt's became the great odor of the common man. Like most other cheap brands it had a faint aroma of rose and honeysuckle. And while lavender and violet were popular with upper class women.

Queen Victoria’s preference was for simple, fresh and understated fragrances. Following Victoria’s lead, English women began wearing delicate scents such as lavender, jasmine, bergamot and lemon. Violet became particularly popular, as well as herbaceous notes of thyme, clove and rosemary. 

Besides flowers, aromatic woods, odorous spices, grasses and herbs, animal substances were primary ingredients of perfumes. Ambergris was a secretion of the sperm whale that net only mellowed other scents but gave them greater longevity. The most lasting of odors came from the musk deer of China and Tibet. One part of musk was said to scent over 3,000 parts of "inodorous powder" with an intoxicating aroma that impregnated any surface with which it came in contact. 

Given the nature of perfume, from the confidence it gives its wearer to the indescribable effect it sometimes has on its very targeted audience, it’s not surprising that perfume has long been kept in bottles whose shapes seem to echo the mysterious properties of the fluids inside them. Whether it’s a slender phial, a tiny tear-shaped lachrymatory, or a round, flat-sided ampullae, perfume bottles are designed to contain magic, which is only unleashed when a woman opens the bottle and applies a drop or two of the precious liquid to her body.

The earliest examples of perfume bottles come from Ancient Egypt, initially crafted from clay or wood. As the popularity of perfume spread across cultures, artisans created more ornate designs. The Romans hollowed out precious stones or blew magnificent glass bottles to hold their fragrances, while the ancient Greeks used terracotta sculpted into animal forms and shells. By the late 18th century, perfume containers came in a variety of materials, such as porcelain, silver, copper and white glass in various shapes influenced by artistic movements of the time. Enamel became popular as a base to hand-paint detailed pastoral scenes. 

As luscious as perfume smells, so were the shapes and designs of the bottles that contained it. Some were small enough for a woman to wear on a chain around her neck, in which case, the bottle became a piece of jewelry. Glassblowers in Britain, Bohemia, Germany, and France made perfume bottles throughout the 19th century. U.S. glass manufacturers such as the New England Glass Company and the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company also made perfume bottles during that time. Some of these were hexagonal and opaque—white, blue, and green were common colors—with knobby, pineapple-shaped stoppers.

Fashionable Victorian women revived the use of the vinaigrette filled with a variety of delightfully sniffable scents. They also developed a preference for French labels on their dressing table bottles. The allure and snob appeal of French fragrances swept the perfume industry until even the down-to-earth Sears & Roebuck catalog succumbed with terms such as parfums, odeurs , and flacons. A typical 1905 ad offered: "Our Special Violette France Perfume, put up in magnificent 2-ounce cut glass stoppered bottle, for only 60 cents.”

Beginning around 1890, artisans and glass factories alike produced elaborate cut or blown glass perfume bottles with ornate caps, some of which had hinged silver stoppers and collars. Purse-sized conical bottles with very short necks and round stoppers were often decorated with gilt flower-and-leaf patterns.  

The world of perfumes was then and is today one of mystery and magic. And the containers that house them are highly collectible. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "Antiques of Christmas" in the 2021 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.