Perfume Scent Bottles - Facts and Tips

The use of perfume and anointing oil dates back prior to the Egyptian times.  Perfumed oils were used for medicinal reasons, as cosmetics, for religious purposes and cleansing ceremonies. Since perfume was very costly, the commoner of that era might save up to a years wages to purchase the finest and most exotic of fragrances.

Because of the great value placed on perfume, their jugs and bottles carried equal importance. Soon a vast array of perfume containers were created throughout the centuries.

The Egyptians kept their perfumes in vessels crafted from a wide range of precious resources, gold, prized stones, colored glass and others. But the most used ones were made of alabaster, provided by the neighboring desert of Libya.

The Greeks contributed greatly by applying their artistic abilities to pottery.  The unsurpassed beauty of their ceramics resulted in the creation of seven forms of flasks to keep perfumes.  They decorated them with geometric themes, eccentric animals, mythological settings and black or red figural scenes in relation to the times. But the most customary and prevalent form was the "lekythos", a slim elegant glass.  It was said in Greece that if someone lacked importance, "he had no lekythos".

More current vessels had simpler forms but some of them were true works of art.  Perfume vessels, matrimonial vases, essence jars and scent flasks from the old cultures until the modern times had made their impressions in the industrialized world of perfumery.  From the Egyptians, to the Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Arabs, and other ancient civilizations, perfumers left their masterpieces behind for historians to discover and admire.