The latest initiative of the Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum is to show to as wide an audience as possible a little appreciated and often neglected feature of our cultural heritage: scent bottles.

Did it ever cross your mind that scent bottles can be interesting and a precious record of social mores and customs? Well, pay a visit to the ‘Scent bottles: from ceremony to seduction’ and you will start looking at scent bottles with a different eye. They can be pretty collectable items.

I was at once intrigued by the display. The ‘exhibition room’ at Palazzo Falson has been turned into a pretty little nook that oozes sophistication. You cannot help be distracted by the Victorian dressing table set up in the recessed space of the room. Replete with glamorous ornaments and of course, several perfume bottles, this gives a very clear idea of scent bottles used in the belle époque.

As in all good exhibitions, you leave enriched by the information the organisers have patiently put together. This helps you to better contextualise the exhibits and appreciate them.

Perhaps the most fascinating are the travelling boxes containing several perfume bottles and other cosmetic paraphernalia. A 19th-century French ebonised vanity box with Boulle decoration in an extraordinary state of preservation, is one of the most exciting exhibits. The use of perfume to enhance a person’s attraction and aura is well known, and still very much in practice today. Scents are thought of as a symbol of affluence. It is also common knowledge that perfumes were used to mask dreadful smells in periods when personal hygiene was far from optimum. The Court of Versailles is a classic example.

History and archaeology teach us of other multifold uses of perfumes over a long span of time. Perfumes, which are an essential aspect of human civilisation, were used in rituals, to ward off disease, and even to accompany the dead. One must not forget the aspect of seduction.

Among the exhibits is also an 18th-century crystal scent bottle that has been converted into a reliquary of St Aloysius Gonzaga.

What the beautifully curated and designed exhibition ‘Scent bottles: from ceremony to seduction’does, is highlight these uses throughout the centuries and the varying shapes and sizes of vessels. Over 250 scent bottles are on display. The exhibition has been much enhanced by the collaboration of other museums as well as private collectors.

Thanks to the research that went into this exhibition, you get a good glimpse of the history of scent bottles. It displays a variety of styles from all over the world, and from different eras. The exhibition culminates with the development of perfumes being produced by today’s fashion houses and designers. More can be read in the exhibition catalogue, and also found online in a long essay.

By popular demand, ‘Scent bottles: from ceremony to seduction’has been extended to January 29 (open every day except Mondays). The exhibition is open at Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum, Mdina.

A talk by guest curator Joseph Galea Naudi and exhibition coordinator Lisa Attard is being held at Palazzo Falson on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

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