History of Perfumery in the 17th Century

In the 16th and 17th centuries, bathing was to a large extent abandoned in favor of the liberal use of toilet waters, scented powders and luxurious fragrances.

The first form of perfume in France was the perfumed fashion glove from Italy and Spain, so the perfume trade was not originally in the hands of barbers but in the offices of master glovers. Already at the end of the twelfth century these constituted a powerful corporation

In the 13th century, ladies started wearing gloves as accessories to their high fashion ensembles. These fashionable accessories were made up of silk or linen and sometimes reached to the elbow. However, such worldly accoutrements were not for holy women, according to the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse, written for their guidance. As a result, sumptuary laws were promulgated to restrain this vanity: against samite gloves in Bologna, 1294, against perfumed gloves in Rome, 1560.

A corporation or guild of glovers (gantiers) existed from the thirteenth century in Paris, where gloves were called gants. They made their gants in skin or in fur. In the 16th century, gloves were all the rage. Queen Elizabeth I herself set the fashion for wearing them richly embroidered with gold and studded with jewels.

Marchands Maîtres Gantiers Parfumeurs:

Until the 17th century, French glove-apothecaries made perfumes using products mainly from Italy or Spain; the mercers sold them, but by law, none could claim the title of perfumer.  In Paris, the gantiers became "gantiers parfumeurs." They perfumed gloves with various scented oils, the animalic musk, ambergris and civet, which were first mixed with fatty base that was smeared inside the gloves, this served not only to perfume the gloves but to soften the hands of the wearer as well. Some of these early gloves were scented with frangipani essential oil and were known as Frangipani Gloves.

An 18th century formula for perfuming "White Gloves Scented With Jasmine after the Italian manner" instructed one to dissolve white wax in oil of ben. The leather skins would be the dressed with this liquid, then hung up and dried on a line. They were then well rinsed with water, dried and properly stretched, made into gloves. Then jasmine blossoms would be then applied to them, shaped, then folded until smooth. The manner of manipulating the flower petals against the leather helped to impregnante the leather with the scent of the flowers.

Another formula included rosewood, Florentine orris, sandalwood beaten into a very fine powder and then added to liquid storax, coloring pigments and a little gum arabic. This would then be moistened with rose and orange flower waters and spread over the leather gloves. When this paste dried, you would then rub it into the leather very well with your fingers, fold them up and dress them with a little gum water which had orris powdered dissolved into it. The gloves would then be hung up to dry and then brought into their proper form and folded up as fit for use.. 

A popular formula was to take ambergris, civet and orange flower butter rubbed into the gloves with fine cotton wool, pressing the perfume into them. Other formulas involved rose essence, oils of clove and mace, mixed with frankincense powder. This paste would be laid in papers between the gloves then hard pressed, as it was said that the gloves would absorb the scent within 24 hours and would hardly ever lose it. 

Gloves were a valuable gift sent from Spanish relatives, but sometimes, they came from England. On August 18, 1612, the Spanish ambassador presented Louis XIII with twenty-four of the sweet-scented Peaux de'Espagne and fifty pairs of gloves. These, as the Master of the Wardrobe told him, should be kept as gifts for illustrious foreign guests. "Oh! no," protested the young boy, explaining that "they will make collars for my dogs and harness for my ponies." 

It seemed that everyone was a perfumer in those days, from craftsmen to book peddlers, as if there weren't enough charlatans in the business. Quack doctors, calling themselves perfumers, went village to village offering so-called curative perfumes that could be taken internally. Apothecaries offered fragrances in both internal and external varieties, selling perfume ingredients as "drugs" or "spices" to get around tax laws. As a result, King Louis XIII decided to curb the proliferation of just anyone calling themselves a perfumer and get rid of the phonies. In 1614, a letters patent was issued to the glove makers so that they could ''title and qualify as masters-glovers-perfumers (Maître Gantiers Parfumeurs)." Perfumed gloves were then almost universally worn. Henrietta-Marie of England sent the Queen of France, her sister-in-law, a casket of gloves and ribbons in 1637. 

When Catherine de Medici came to France to marry Henry II, she brought with her two Florentines Rene (Renato Bianco) and Tombarelli, who were experts in preparing perfumes and cosmetics. Rene's shop on Pont du Change became the preferred rendezvous of the haute monde of the period, and from that time, perfumery came into general use among the wealthy. The perfumed glove trade, which was an introduction at the court of Catherine de Medici, was not specifically recognized until 1656, in a royal brevet. 

Rene also possessed the art of preparing subtle poisons, and Catherine de Medici was said to have had utilized his talents to get rid of her enemies. Catherine de Medici, had an official fashion a pair of gloves, that were not only perfumed but were also poisoned. She presented them as a gift to Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of Henry IV.  Other accused poisoners were the Queen of Navarre and Gabrielle d'Estrees. 

Then in 1656, the glovers' status composed of more than thirty articles was confirmed and registered by patent letters of King Louis XIV. In the Letters Patent, the glovers were styled "Marchands Maîtres Gantiers Parfumeurs" and were privileged to make and sell gloves, mittens, and skins used in making gloves, to perfume gloves, and sell all manner of perfumes. And by article XXIII of their statutes of the month of March 1656, they can sell their glove goods only in their shop and it is forbidden them under pain of fine to peddle it or give to peddle by the city & suburbs.

In 1658, Louis XIV enlarged the charter. According to these Statutes, no one can be received as a Master Glove-Perfumer Merchant unless he has completed four years of apprenticeship, worked with the Masters for three more years as a Companion, and made a masterpiece.

When Anne of Austria died in 1666, a part of her legacy was 300 pairs of perfumed gloves.

Shakespeare made mention of perfumed gloves in his writings. Hero says to Beatrice: "Those gloves the count sent me, they are of an excellent perfume." In 1682, the Countess of Pembroke purchased from Lesgu, the Parisian haberdasher, no fewer than 99 pairs of gloves, many of them scented with orange flower water or amber perfumes. 

In addition to scent bottles, perfumers also sold drinking-glasses, mirrors, brushes, combs, hair powder, scent cases, cosmetics, fans, pomanders, vinaigrettes, perfume burners, potpourri jars, pomanders, sachets, candles, feathers, ribbons, and all sorts of fragranced novelties. The perfumer's stand at fairs and markets, where toilet waters were on sale in pretty Venetian glass containers, was always a great attraction to the ladies, who were always on the alert for new additions to their toilette. 

Perfume Making:

During the 1600s, the most common ingredients used in perfumery were: aloe, camphor, mint, basil, marjoram, ambergris, civet, musk, storax, labdanum, benzoin, myrrh, calamus, frankincense, cloves, coriander, mastic, lemon, bergamot, orange, cinnamon, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, lavender, carnation, balsam, rose powder, chypre powder, violet powder, Florentine iris powder, rosewater, angelica water, Damascene water, orange flower water, jasmine, etc.

Enfleurage: Enfleurage is a process of obtaining scent by laying petals or flower heads on sheets of glass coated with fat, the frames of glass, known as chassis, were pressed against each other. The fat would absorb the scent of the flowers, such as rose or jasmine. When the flowers wilted, they were were removed, and fresh ones were put on the fat. This process was repeated until the fat was sufficiently scented, leaving a substance known in the industry as "pomade." From the 17th century the French perfume industry carried out enfleurage on a commercial scale. At that time, for enfleurage à froid, cold enfleurage, earthen basins were first used, glazed inside; fat was spread over the interior and every day freshly cut flowers were placed in contact with it. 

Maceration: This is an ancient method, originally used by the Egyptians, of obtaining aromatic substances of flowers, roots, spices and herbs by boiling them or heating them to a high temperature in water or oil.

Expression: another method first used by the ancient Egyptians, was to extract oil from plants and flowers by applying pressure. This was achieved by placing flowers or plant parts inside of a cloth bag and twisting until the essential oils dripped out into a pot. This was generally used to obtain the oils from citrus peels.

Distillation: The art of perfume distillation was not perfected until the seventeenth century. 

The Perfumed Courts:

Perfume was very plentifully used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At the courts of Louis XIII and later Louis XIV, the most intense and pungent perfumes were specially chosen in order to compensate for dirty, unwashed bodies and clothes, raw sewage and other odiferous waste littering the streets and palace. Some women simply wore small nosegays at the breast for fragrance. The most refined people of the time were content to walk in the morning, on their faces a small cotton pad soaked in flavored alcohol or a small nosegay to sniff when walking past a particularly nasty odor wafting up from the waste filled streets. 

For most of Europe, bathing was not practiced due to doctors, who mistakenly at the time believed that germs entered the body through open pores, and the very act of bathing helped to open these vulnerable pores. Other people believed that most sickness was due to "miasma" or "bad air". The Great Plague saw a major increase in both aromatic vinegar and pomander use. People thought that smelling sweet smelling herbs, pungent vinegars or spices would prevent the "miasma" from entering the body through the nose. 

In fact, Plague Doctors at the time wore special masks with a bird's beak appendage. Inside the beak would be a mixture of herbs, resins, incense, flowers or a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar. The beak would rest right up against the nostrils so the plague doctor would breathe in the sweet or spicy scents contained in the beak, hoping it would counteract the miasma. Citizens were desperate for anything to help combat the foul air and without today's medical knowledge, readily used anything that was suggested by the doctors of the time.

However, in England, the use of perfume was forbidden during the Commonwealth period from 1653 to 1660. The Puritan encouraged a revival in bathing which is summed up in the 18th century adage "cleanliness is next to Godliness." Cleanliness was considered a virtue and in order to be clean, a person must bathe. For Puritans, the taking of baths was not a pleasure but was considered part of the Christian duty.

At the court in Versailles, perfume was lavishly used in many accessories - sweet bags, handkerchiefs, clothes, wigs, beads, pomanders, sachets and scented gloves. Handfans, or eventails, were scented with various perfumes and used as devices for flirtation. Cardinal Richelieu had the scent of flowers "bellowed" into his apartment.

Great ladies of illustrious lords had bespoke compositions invented to which their names have since been attached: the Marechale d'Aumont, the powder known as the Marechale compounded with ambrette, nutmeg, cloves, storax, benzoin and rosewater; Duchess Orsini, of Nerola, put in fashion the essence of orange blossoms which are known by the name Neroli. Although Henrietta Maria was the Queen of England, she remained throughout her life typically French. She maintained in her retinue of personal attendants, the French perfumer Jean Baptiste Ferine, who looked after her cosmetics. Visiting papal nuncios presented her with rare oils of cedrino (citron) from Italy.

The Sun King's Scented Obsession:

Louis XIV used so much perfume that he was called "sweet smelling" and the "most sweetly flowered king". It was said that he wore many perfumes as an aphrodisiac to increase his virility and even had furniture in the palace perfumed. The Duc de Saint-Simon remarked that early in Louis' reign, "no man had ever loved sweet smells as much as he did." It was Louis XIV who suggested that a different scent be used every day of the week. He was particularly fond of the Florentine iris, made with orris root powder. He not only used it on his person, but to scent objects in his palaces. Orris powder was typically used in sachets which could be worn between layers of clothing to help combat body odors.

The Sun King was fascinated with the production of perfumes and had his personal perfumer, Martial, mix his fragrance in Louis' private chambers where the king could watch. Martial became famous for her fragrances and received many royal favors, including being made valet to the king's brother, one of the highest honors of the court.

Louis XIV had created for his future wife, the Infanta Marie-Thérese, whom he married in 1660, an exclusive perfume which was offered to her as a gift for her first entry into France. Louis XIV also enjoyed compounding perfumes with his mistress, the lovely Madame de Montespan. According to a scandalous story, Louis XIV had an argument in public with his mistress, Madame de Montespan, which ended when Madame had the last word, that for all her faults, she did not smell as bad as he did.

Some historians have claimed that Louis XIV hated perfumes. The French Perfumer, published in 1680, completely destroyed this assertion. It seems, however, that the great king "loved shut himself up in his study with Martial, and pleased to see him compose the perfumes he bore on his sacred person. Louis had Martial create a special perfume for him every day. Martial was then the perfumer in vogue that Moliere spoke about in the "Countess of Escarbagnas". Martial enjoyed many favors from the king and was promoted to valet of the king's brother. Louis XIV also enjoyed the creative compositions of his personal perfumer, Simon Barbe.

Though as he aged he was prone to many migraines and coughing fits brought on by the overabundance of perfumes. At some point in the 1670s, he began to use little by little, eventually stopping completely. He could no longer tolerate the scents which he originally loved but eventually made him so ill, he was disgusted, and finally forbid them, preferring the "real perfume of the beautiful" to all the smells of world. Even scented letters triggered the terrible headaches, so much that any scented letters were read by someone else and promptly burned. As a result, Louis could only stand the scent of orange water, probably quite diluted as to make the scent soft and subtle.

I believe that he may have had over the years developed allergies to many of the fragrances which were so popular at the court. The allergies may have prompted the coughing fits from asthma. It became so bad that any of the courtiers who were presented to the king, had to refrain from strong, pungent perfumes and as a result, the court was devoid of most scents. Since nobility followed the dictates and tastes of the court, the wealthy were no longer purchasing scents. This caused the French perfumery business to languish as the lack of buyers led to some perfumeries to bankrupt under debts.

Marana write in Lettres d'un Sicilian, that Paris in 1692,

"Foreigners enjoy at the same time all the pleasures that can flatter the senses except the sense of smell; as the king does not like scents, everyone makes it a necessity to hate them, the ladies affect to faint if they see a flower. Thus the most delicate people refuse to indulge themselves in the smells that we Italians love so perfectly." 

On the other hand, the great monarch, who always had a horror of powder, consented to admit it when his hair began to turn white. None of his successors had enough authority to uproot this senseless fashion; the Revolution itself did not triumph over it without difficulty. Whatever repugnance people felt for perfumes at the time, the royal palaces were kept in such a state of infection that it was sometimes necessary to resolve to fight it. In this case, they confined themselves to calling a pound officer. He arrived carrying a hot shovel in his hand, on which he burned an odoriferous substance.

Perfumes reappeared after the death of Louis XIV, but they never regained the brilliant favor they had enjoyed at the beginning of his reign. Princess Palatine beginning of her reign attributed to them all kinds of evil properties. According to her, their use compromised the health of the Duchess of Berry, daughter of the Regent, and the Dauphine was nearly poisoned by scented gloves.

Fragrant Solutions:

Sweet Bags:

So bad were the everyday smells, it was necessary to have sweet herbs or perfumes about the person. Women wore small sachets impregnated with perfume, which they called "sweet bags" and "cussinets" (coussinet de senteur) sewn into their bodices or other parts of their dress, though some were suspended from the waist or stashed in their sleeves or pockets. In 1560, "Perfume in Sleves" was mentioned in Haynes's State Papers. Those who could afford such luxuries, had their gloves and even their shoes perfumed. Sometimes these sachets were worn tucked into elaborate hairstyles and wigs, others could be found stashed inside small pierced receptacles like the pomanders, perfume rings, vinaigrettes or lockets. 

The Ladies Cabinet, 1655:

"To make sweet Bags to lay Linnen in" - Take Damask Rose buds, pluck them and dry the leaves in the shadow, the tops of Lavender flowers, sweet Marjerome, and Basil, of each a handful, also dried and mingled with the Rose leaves: Take also of Benjamin, Storax, Gallingal roots, and Ircos or Orris roots (twice as much of the Orris as of any of the other) beaten into fine powder; a piece of Cotton wool, wetted in Rose water; and put to it a good quantity of Musk and Ambergreece, made into powder, and sprinkle them with some Civit dissolved in Rosewater, lay the cotton in double paper, and dry it over a Chafingdish of coales: Lastly take half a handful of Cloves, and as much Cinnamon bruised, not smal beaten, mix all these together, and put them up in your bags."

A recipe for a "Sweet-Scented Bag to wear in the Pocket" was made from thin Persian silk made into little bags about four inches wide, in the form of an oblong square. The interiors of the bags were rubbed lightly with a little civet, then filled with coarse powder a la Maréchal, or any other odoriferous powder of choice; to which was added a few cloves, with a little powdered sandalwood, then the mouths of the bags were sewn up. The exteriors of many of the sweet bags were decorated with elaborate needlework such as canvas work.

Every linen press, wardrobe and drawer had its lavender bag or sachet of orris root to lend fragrance and to keep away the moths and in the boudoir, they were generally placed under the pillow, and in Bartholomew Fair, written in 1614, Coke brags," I have wrought pillows there and cambric sheets and sweet bags too."  Instructions for making "Bags to Scent Linen" said to take dried rose petals, powdered cloves and mace, mix together and placed into the bags. 

The Ladies Cabinet, 1655:

"Sweet bags to lay among linnen - Take Orris, Ciprus, Calamus, Fusis, all of the gross beaten and Galingal roots, of each a handful, and as much of the smal tops of Lavender dried, and put them into bags to lay among your clothes; you may put in a handful or two of Damask Rose leaves dried, which wil somewhat better the scent." 

Cosmeticks, 1660 

"Take of cubebs half a dram, cloves one scruple, with burnt one ounce and a half, mace two scruples, pouder them and put them into silk."

Bury Fair, 1689 

"Perfumer. All sorts of essences, perfumes, pulvilio's, sweet bags, perfum'd boxes for your hoods and gloves, all sorts of sweets for your linnen, Portugal sweets to burn in your chamber. What sweets to burn in your chamber. What d ye lack What d'ye buy?" 

In Lady: The whole duty of a woman, Printed in London for J. Gwillim., c1695: 

"Sweet Powder. Take Rice grounds, beat them, dry them, and sift them often, till they become very fine, then dry them again, scent a pound of this with two grains of Musk, a dram of Rose scent, or other scents proper, that is pleasing to you. This may be done for want of Rice grounds, with White Starch, finely sifted."

Ram's Little Dodoen from 1606 recommends for a "bag to smell unto, or to cause one to sleep", one should take dried rose petals, powdered mint and cloves, mixed together and put into a bag. A 1625 recipe included rose leaves, orris powder, dried marjoram, cloves, benzoin and sandalwood powders, musk, civet and ambergris. This was then put into a taffeta bag. Another 1625 recipe included damask rose petals, orris powder, dried marjoram, sweet basil, cloves, sandalwood, citron peel, lignum aloes, benzoin, storax, musk. This mixture would then be beaten and placed into a silk or linen bag, silk was said to be the best.

 

Pomanders:

The pomander still reigned supreme during the 17th century, many women wore them hanging from the neck, as it was considered a great preservative against infection and miasma.  The pomanders generally measured 1.5 to 2.5 inches in diameter. Many books had recipes on how to make the scented balls to put inside a pomander. Originally the word pomander referred to the ball of scent itself, later it referred to the object that contained.

A Dictionary of the French and English tongues of 1650 describes a pomander as a "sweet ball, pomme de senteur." The common name for a pomander was a "sweet-ball" as noted in the 1677 book A Large Dictionary, it also mentioned that a pomander was "a preservative against some evil."

The book Delightes for Ladies by Hugh Plat, from around 1609, advises that:

"To renew the sent of a Pomander. Take one graine of civet, and two of muske, or if you double the proportion it will bee so much the sweeter, grind them upon a stone with a little Rosewater, and after wetting your hands with Rosewater, you may worke the same in your Pomander. This is a sleight to passe away an olde Pomander, but my intention is honest."

Another recipe is offered from the 1695 book, Lady: The whole duty of a woman, or, A guide to the female sex: Printed in London for J. Gwillim: 

"Sweet Balls to cary in ones Hand, for the Prevention of ill Airs or Scents. Take Paste of Almonds four ounces, mingle with it a little Bean-Flower, then knead it, being made wet with Orange, or Jessime water, and drop two or three drops of the Oyl of Cloves, Nutmeg, Cina∣mon, or any other Scents as you will please to have it Scented with, and make them up into Balls, or hollow Boxes."

Three pomander recipes are shown in the 1681book, Speech made in a famous assembly: touching the cure...,Kenelm Digby, ‎Rudolph van Zijll (Utrech):

#1. "To make quickly, or inexpensively, an excellent Pomos [pomander] that smells good: Grease your cassolette pot, with a little civet, as much as you can take on the tip of a knife, & pour over it a good quantity of orange blossom water, we usually put water in it of cardona scent, which is distilled from all strong fragrant flowers. Put on top of that a little powder of buccaros, then light the lamp, do not fail to maintain it always with fresh scented water, before what you put there is consumed."

#2. "To make a pomos [pomander], like those made in Spain: You will take half a pound of prepared paste, which is benzoin soaked in fragrant rose water, & expose to the Sun for six weeks, stir twice a day with a spatula of wood, & new rose water added as she gets hot. Grind it well, adding four large whole cloves, a little well-pulverized cinnamon, an ounce of storax also crushed with the rest, half an ounce of the yellow skin of lemons cut very finely, half of ambergris, a quarter of ounce of civet, an ounce of powdered perfume from Italy, an ounce of powdered roses, a large amount of musk: mix everything well together, & boil it in simple rose water, adding only to cover the material, until everything is well incorporated. This proportion will serve for eight pomos [pomander]; when using it, always keep the pomos [pomanders] covered with rose water."

#3. "To make a scent ball [pomander]: You will take two drams of benzoin, very pure storax, ladanum from each one dram, bark of cedars, lemons of oranges, yellow only, flowers of violets, fragrant roses, Roman, red sandalwood, calamus aromaticus, from each a dram & half cloves, cubebs, iris of florence each of two scruples: reduce all this to powder, & make a paste of tragacanth gum soaked in orange flower water or in water of orange or pink flowers; however, heat a mortar a little, exposing the front to the fire: pour into it a spoonful or two of water of orange flowers or roses, & on this put a scruple of civet a dram and a half of ambergris, & grind well all together with a slightly heated pestle. When this is well incorporated, put in it a scruple & half of very pure musk & mix it also, dropping into the composition thirty grains of ardent spirit of lilium convallium: when it is completely cooled, then mix the whole of the said composition with the previous paste, kneading & maturing them well together, & at the end add ten drops of perfect oil or quintessence of cinnamon, made by distillation, & as much quintessence of rosemary. Close this material in balls of the size you like and let them dry in the shade. The smell will be sweeter and more delicious if you don't put rosemary oil in it."

Chaplets:

Perfumed "chaplets" or "medals" were tablets made of a coffee colored paste which consisted of Marechal Powder bound with gum arabic and gum tragacanth, moistened with All-Flower Water. This paste was put into a mold lined with jasmine or other floral oil to make it easier to remove from said mold. These were then removed from mold and dried. These were carried on the person and also put into the drawers and wardrobes.

However, the dominant perfume preferred leaned on the more animalic side, the most prevalent was musk, taken from the sexual glands of the Tibetan musk deer, or in its absence, civet from Abyssinian civet cats and ambergris, a whale secretion often found washed up on beaches. These intensely pungent odors were probably made necessary by the ignorance of personal hygiene and the total lack of cleanliness in the streets and in the home. These substances were used to perfume clothing. A "Musk doublet" was mentioned in Congreve's Love for Love. 

Louis XIII himself, was preferential to the heady scent of orange blossoms, so he had planted over one thousand orange trees around his palaces and it was said that it was perfumes instead of water that flowed in Paris fountains on festive occasions. Jean Héroard in his Journal of Louis XIII, King of France from 1610 to 1643, tells that on June 8, 1611, the young king found his mother Marie de' Medici, busy “making perfumes; he works there with her."

However, wasn't just the streets that stunk, the stuffy interiors of noble residences and royal palaces were often be just as bad. Natural body odors, moldering foodstuffs, pet and vermin excretions, unwashed clothing, and musty textiles, combined with the lack of personal hygiene, toilets and adequate sanitation, made for a heady, putrid atmosphere. The rooms were so filthy that it was necessary to strew in them scented herbs.

It is interesting to note that Louis XIII's mother, as a bride, was said to have required the assistance of flasks of scent brought from home to palliate the companionship of her husband, Henry IV of France, who was reputed to smell repulsively of natural body odor. Conversely, Henry preferred the natural scent as he told his mistress Gabrielle d'Estree, "Don't wash my love, I'll be home in eight days.".

Baths in those days were only taken as a cure for gout, rheumatism, and to "amend your cold legs against the winter." Already in the early 17th century, Bath was becoming popular as a spa. The idea of regularly washing, in what we would regard as "soaking" - the body even in a basin or hip-bath in the home was peculiar during that time. Instead, they rubbed themselves down with a coarse cloth, with a daubing of lavender or rose water. The face, did, of course, receive special attention. The eyes were bathed with either rosewater, fennel water or eyebright water. 

Soap was certainly used in great quantities. In London, the soap boilers produced three varieties: speckled soap, white soap and grey soap, which was largely used in the manufacture of cloth. Individual purchasers would perfume the white soap themselves, according to their taste. In 1620, an Englishman named Yardley obtained a concession from King Charles I to manufacture soap for the London area.

Men used to relieve themselves in the dark corners of the rooms, underneath staircases, or against the walls outside where the stench would be carried on the wind and into the rooms. Chamber pots and slop jars were often dumped of their contents, right outside the windows. To help combat this, fumigants, incense, perfume burners, sachets and potpourri jars helped to neutralize the malodorous smells.

Anne of Austria (1601-1666) had birds modeled in perfumed paste suspended from the ceiling to scent the rooms in her royal apartments. these were hence known as "oiselets de chypre." Storax, an ingredient in the popular chypre fragrance, was used to scent apartments, commonly used to fumigate bedchambers, dispensed as a powder via bellows. Louis XIII's chief advisor, Cardinal Richelieu had the fragrant scent of flowers "bellowed" through his apartments. 

The book, The Charitable Physician, published in 1629, offered a useful recipe for chypre powder:

 "Take half pound iris root; four ounces of roses; one ounce each cyperus root, marjoram and cloves; four ounce each yellow sanders and benjamin; one ounce storax. Beat them together into a powder."

The Court of Louis XIII by Katherine Alexandra Patmore, 1909:

"Louis XIII was also sensitive to ill odours. When the rough servant who brought wood for the fires passed through his room, the child exclaimed that he was puant (stinky) and insisted on having the air purified by the burning of branches of juniper. Rose attar and spices heated in a little silver saucepan were also used, but Mamanga's [Louis' name for his governess, Madame de Montglat] remedy was the juniper bough and Louis swore by this disinfectant. The king's purveyors supplied rose scented sachets to place among his clothing. A special perfume of jessamine was given by Christine of Piedmont to Dubois, the faithful valet of Louis XIII, and he offered this to Anne of Austria to alleviate the closeness of the sick room in the king's last illness. Anne declared that she had never smelt a perfume more delicious."

Venetian Shells:

A rather curious item known as "Venetian Shells" also helped to give a pleasant aroma to one's rooms. These Venetian Shells were from the Adriatic Sea the and Maldive Islands, cleansed, soaked in perfume and dried. They were cleansed with weak acid, which causes them to assume their pearly lustre. A mixture of ottos is made: with half a pound bergamot, a quarter of a pound of sandalwood and two ounces each of lavender and rosewood, in this mixture is rubbed one drachm of civet and two drachms of musk. The shells were then steeped into the scent which ascends into their convolving tube. When dry, these shells served for perfuming jewel cases and workboxes. 

Potpourri:

The "pot-pourri" vase did not appear until the end of the 17th century. It was very artistically modelled and designed and was used for over a century among the nobility of France and old Europe. Raised on feet, with lid, often the border around the neck was pierced with holes. The name has been applied to both vessel and the contents. In the 17th century, they were made in gold gilt and silver; and in India and China in bronze, by the 18th century, they were mostly made of porcelain. Barbe in Le Parfumeur François (1699) gives “a new recipe for making cassolettes, commonly called potpourris."

Cassolettes & Printaniers:

"Cassolettes" or "printaniers," were little silver, gold, or ivory boxes of various designs perforated to allow the escape of scent contained inside. A 1611 French/English dictionary defined a "Cassole: a coffin, box, or casket for perfumes. Cassolette: a little chest, coffin, box, or casket to put sweet or precious things in, also a kind of small pot with a narrow mouth, resembling a perfuming pot."

In a 1694 French dictionary, a cassolette is defined as a "Vase in which scented waters and other perfumes are evaporated by means of fire. A silver cassolette, put fire in this cassolette."

The paste used for filling the boxes was composed of equal parts of grain musk, ambergris, seeds of the vanilla pod, otto of roses, and orris powder, with enough gum acacia or gum tragacanth to work the whole together into a paste. Other cassolette pastes were made of  the powders of Florentine orris, storax, benzoin and other aromatics, moistened with orange flower water and then dried. 

Speech made in a famous assembly: touching the cure...,Kenelm Digby, ‎Rudolph van Zijll (Utrech) · 1681:

"Cassolette of the Ambassador of Venice: You will take four ounces of benzoin, two ounces of storax, one and a half ounces of aloe wood, two drams of ambergris, twenty-four grains of musk, a dram of civet, twenty cloves, two drams of powdered cinnamon, the peels of two cedrat lemons cut thin, & without touching it: mix the whole thing together with rose water, & make a paste of it with your hand & do not served never without rose water or other scent, or make a paste with gum never without rose water or other scented gum or make a paste with tragacanth gum in rose water, until it is in mucilage, & formed into & small tablets."

Another term is "pouncet box", which is a small box having a perforated cover containing perfumes, the scent of which escaping through the open flower work of the top was regarded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a preservative against contagion or poison. 

From the pouncet box the perfumes, whether moist or dry, were inhaled into the nostrils, but it was probably not until a century after the general encouragement of tobacco in England that the finely granulated leaf became commonly established as a pungent perfume and at length introduced the costly and elegant snuff box.

Snuff boxes were carried by both men and women and snuff taking was considered the dainty way of using tobacco. The snuff boxes are found in circular, rectangular, oval, hexagonal and other shapes. The earliest ones are the rarest, for they came into more common use in the 18th century and most of the examples found are of that era.

We find two formulas for making scented tobacco in the 1681 book Speech made in a famous assembly: touching the cure...,Kenelm Digby, ‎Rudolph van Zijll (Utrech):

"#1. Scented Tobacco: You will take nutmeg oil by expression one and a half dram, six grains of musk, ten grains of civet, oil of lavender, cinnamon, marjoram, each one drop, clove oil half a drop, a grain of black balsam from Peru, half ounce ambergris. You must grind the musk & ambergris in a marble mortar, with half of a marble almond with half of a peeled sweet almond, then mix in the civet & the rest, & the nutmeg oil the last. This is very good against bad air, rubbing it under the nose and on the temples. If you put it as big as a lentil in a box half full of Tobacco, and more Tobacco on top, it will lose the taste of Tobacco."

 "#2. Scented Tobacco: Must take musk, civet, from each fixed grain, ambergris, angel water, from each eight grains, fine sugar a dram: grind everything in a slightly hot mortar, we use it as before."

Perfume Burners & Pastilles:

Some of these pastes were put into a little silver or copper box lined with tin. When you wanted to use this box, you would set the box on a gentle fire, or on hot ashes, and it would exhale a most delightful odor. Perfume burners were used to fumigate a pleasing scent to living quarters. They were made in a variety of materials, shapes, styles and themes. 

Delightes for Ladies by Hugh Plat, from 1609 gives us a simple recipe to fragrance a room: 

"A present and delicate perfume. Lay two or three droppes of liquid Amber upon a glowing coale, or a peece of lignum aloes, lignum Rhodium, or storax."

Speech made in a famous assembly: touching the cure...,Kenelm Digby, ‎Rudolph van Zijll (Utrech) · 1681:

"Perfume to burn: You must take half a pound of Ladies' rosebuds, of which you will have left out the white, powdered benzoin three ounces, musk half an ounce, as much ambergris & as much civet. Put the whole thing into powder in a mortar, & being well mixed, put an ounce of sugar there: then form tablets, which will be dried in the Sun or over a low heat."

Lady: The whole duty of a woman, or, A guide to the female sex :Printed in London for J. Gwillim., c1695:

"A curious Perfume against ill Scents. Take Frankincense, a quarter of an ounce, in Powder, Myrrh, the like quantity, Lavender flowers, and Rosemary leave, beaten into powder, mix them together, and put them into an Incense pot, or sprinkle them on a Chafing-Dish of Coals."

The "Scented Tablets" or "Pastilles" as they were known, were burned in the vessels and made primarily of a paste composed of a fine powder, fresh rose leaves and petals, a small amount of perfumed essences or oils, bound with gum tragacanth softened with rose water, beaten into said paste, then rolled out with a rolling pin, cut into lozenges with a knife, then left to dry. Another recipe included various resins: labdanum, benzoin, storax, Peru balsam, myrrh,  olibanum, blended with animalic essences of ambergris, musk, civet, bound with gum tragacanth, then added to oils of rose, orange blossom, lemon, bergamot. Cascarilla, aloes-wood, rosewood, St Lucia-wood, sandalwood and cinnamon powders were beaten into the paste. These were then formed into pastilles the usual way.

A luxurious recipe included residues left in the still after making Angelica Water, fresh rose petals, bound with gum tragacanth, moistened with rose water, beaten into a paste, rolled out with a rolling pin, cut into lozenge shapes or formed into pastilles, and covered with gold or silver leaf.

Other types of pastilles were made up of the same scented pastes rolled up in the shape of a cone, so that they may stand upright, then set to dry. These kind of pastilles were lighted in the same manner as a candle. The whole cone would burn away, leaving a fragrant smoke in its wake.

The Ladies Cabinet, 1655:

"Cyprus Matches to burn in perfume - Take of Willow wood made into Charcoal, one pound, of Benjamin two ounces, Storax liquida one drachm and a halfe, of Storax Calamint one ounce, Marjorome one ounce, Cloves one ounce, of fine Musk ten grains: beat them altogether into powder; then take of Quincy Draggagenty (gum tragacanth) foure ounces; put it in Rose water, and stir them wel together, and let them stand a night and a day; then put all the aforesaid parcels to this Rose water, which must be no more then wil make it into a Paste, and thereof make up your Matches in what forme you list, and let them dry in the shadow, without fire or sun."

 

The Artifice of Cosmetics:

One cannot speak of perfumery without mentioning cosmetics as the two went hand in hand. 

Ladies used Venetian ceruse on their faces. Venetian Ceruse, also known as Spirits of Saturn, was a 16th century cosmetic used as a skin whitener which was made of white lead mixed with vinegar and was poisonous when absorbed through the skin's pores. It was in great demand and considered the best available at that time, the first record of this skin-whitener was found in 1521.  The product which hearkened back to a Roman recipe, contained a pigment composed of white lead, which was understood to cause lead poisoning that would eventually damage the user's skin complexion and cause hair loss. Male as well as female courtiers used face-paint in the Jacobean period. Venetian ceruse had the effect of making women's skin look like a ghastly, white mask, as if the women had been coated in plaster.

 The women who wore it usually just kept adding the mixture now and then rather than wash the old layer off. After the manner of the Spanish court ladies, Anne of Austria put on the cosmetics with a heavy hand. The damage caused by the white lead in ceruse actually gave rise to the fashion of fake ‘beauty spots’ in the 18th century – velvet patches to hide scars.

Painting the face was not nearly so common as patching until the end of the century; even in 1694, it was said to be "not much in use, being jostled out by washes and patches."

The mouche (beauty patch/beauty spot) also made its appearance, the Princesse de Conti setting the fashion. It was most often applied to one side of the forehead or to one cheek. When Louis XIII was a child, a pimple appeared on his face so the court physician applied a bit of plaster upon it, who told him that if he did not like that kind, he could have  a little patch put on instead "Une mouche!" cried the child, "oh! no! I don't want to be a beauty. It's Madame la Princesse de Conti who puts little mouches on her face to make herself pretty."

UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY, 1690:

"MOUCHE is also a small piece of taffeta or black velvet that ladies put on their face as an ornament or to make their complexion appear whiter. The devotees shout loudly against the flies as a mark of great coquetry."

A much safer alternative to Venetian ceruse was bear's grease, which formed the basis of rouges and creams. Imported from France, it was literally the fat of the animal melted down. 'Crayons' or 'pencils,' as we must call them, as the word lipstick was not coined until a few centuries later, was made during this period by grinding down alabaster calcinate or plaster of Paris into a powder, colored appropriately, mixed into a paste, rolled into shape and dried in the sun. 

Powder and rouge were in common use at Court. Louis XIII, that during a childhood temper tantrum, threw his mother's costly face powder about the room along with its puff. In 1689, glover-perfumers obtained the privilege of being called "powder compactors." Face powder could be obtained from ground alabaster, but starch, prepared with perfume, would do very well. 

In the 1600s-1700s, hair powder was applied using a large powder puff (la Houppe en Duvet de Cygne). These elegant puffs of swansdown began to appear in perfumers' inventories from the beginning of the century; by the second half of the century cheaper versions were also available, made of wool, cotton, yarn and cats hair. These were then used for face powder and provided a heavenly soft way to apply the powders. The powder puffs were made by sewing a bunch of swansdown on to a circular piece of silk or cotton cloth and affixing to that a small handle, usually of ivory or bone, or a loop or bow of satin ribbon.

Ninon de Lenclos's (1620-1705) powders, blushes and ointments were used, keeping her beauty until sixty years old and over. A pharmacist claimed to have found the secret of the composition used by the famous courtesan and was sold under the name "Virgogène de Ninon Lenclos", a cosmetic for the immediate firming of flesh. Over a century later, in 1808, a certain Madame Meslin of No.6 rue du Helder, sold a facial wash which she called "Eau de Ninon de Lenclos", and advertised that this is the very cosmetic that kept her beauty going strong for 90 years.

Angelica or angel water (eau d'ange) was a favorite perfume in the seventeenth century made from orange flower water, rosewater, musk, ambergris, storax, calamus, coriander, benzoin, myrtle, cinnamon, cloves, musk, etc.  Angelica water was also used to wash clothing. 

Speech made in a famous assembly: touching the cure...,Kenelm Digby, ‎Rudolph van Zijll (Utrech) · 1681:

"To make the best Angel water: take a pot and a half of rose water, half a pint or a little more orange flower water, 25 grains of musk, as much ambergris, & as much wood of aloes, fifteen seeds of civet, four ounces of benzoin, one ounce of storax, all well pulverized will be put in a tightly stoppered copper pot with a lid of the same, & plenty of cloths around, & put it to boil in a cauldron of water for the space of three hours: if you add the same quantity of pink water, & half of orange flower water with five or six seeds of civet, you will be able to form pastilles from this remainder, or make cassolettes."

With the Restoration and the return of Charles II to England in 1660, French perfumes along with French manners and culture were in vogue. France has become famous for its perfumes and the two most important events to affect the Charles II's exile had certainly gave him a taste for the French style of beauty, though the English at that time, seemed to lag behind their French counterparts in their use of rouge. It was significant to the King's French mistress, Louise de Keroualle, that Rochester addressed his verses on the toilet which included the lines: "And nicely choose, land neatly spread, Upon your Cheeks, the best French red."

Most of the poorer classes and religious folk renounced the wearing of paints in favor of more natural beauty, without the additions of artifice that cosmetics provided. The targeting of the wealthy was to point out their excesses and extravagance in the utilization of beauty products, which were seen as vain and unnecessary expenses not attainable to the general public. Some of it may have been due to jealousy, but also a never ending tactic of patriarchal control over women and their bodies. Mrs. Pierce, a cousin of Samuel Pepys, and a wife of s surgeon took to wearing paints in 1667 - "still very pretty, but paints red on her face, which makes me hate her."

From Rhodon and Iris, a play first performed in Norwich, England in 1631, it reveals to us that a fashionable lady's vanity table not only provided "pots of ointment, combs with poking sticks," but also:

"Waters she hath to make her to shine,

Confections, eke, to clarify her skin;

Lip-salve and cloths of a rich scarlet dye

She hath, which to her cheeks she doth apply

Ointment, wherewith she sprinkles o'er her face,

And lustrifies her beauty's dying grace."

And then there were her perfumes:

"Nor in her weeds alone, is she so nice

But rich perfume she buys at any price' Storax and spikenard, she burns in her chamber,

And daubs herself with civet, musk and amber."

Mundus Muleibris, or, The Ladies Dressing-Room Unlock'd, And Her Toilette Spread, published in 1690, gives us an idea of what we'd find there:

"A new scene to us next presents,

The Dressing Room, and Implements

of Toilet Plate, Gilt, and Emboss'd,

And several other things of Cost:

The Table Miroir, one Glue Pot,

One for Pomatum, and what not?

Of Washes, Unguents, and Cosmeticks,

A pair of Silver Candlesticks;

Snuffers, and Snuff-Dish, Boxes more,

For Powders, Patches, Waters store...

Of Other waters rich, and sweet,

To sprinkle Handkerchief is meet;

D'Ange, Orange, Mill-Fleur, Myrtle,

Whole Quarts the Chamber to bequirtle."

Periwigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. The wigs worn at this time were shoulder-length or longer, imitating the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s. Their use soon became popular in the English court. Both men and women had their hair and wigs powered. The purpose of powdering was in the seventeenth century to dry and perfume the hair after having washed it , and not, as in the eighteenth century, to give it a white appearance. Wig powder was made from ground flour, pounce, white earth, starch, plaster of paris, kaolin, or talc and was scented with orange flower, lavender, or orris root.

Louis XIV hated the fashions of the powders and that of wearing a wig but could not resist them and adopted the wig in 1673. I would think that his preference for iris meant that he used orris powder for his wigs.

The Sources:

At that time, the glove makers had ceased bringing the soaps from Italy which were used for the beard and for the hands, and instead, they started making soaps in Toulon and Marseilles in which they perfumed with the scents of Naples, using the essences of neroli, the carnation or frangipani. This was sold wholesale in different stores at the Provencal cul de sac.

The trade in cosmetics coming into England from the continent grew more extensive each year. From Dieppe and Calais came barrels of orange flower water, powder in 50lb bags, apricot face cream, and all kinds of fards, essences, and perfumes. Exotic perfumes from the house of Martial, elegant pocket mirrors, silk handkerchiefs, and all sorts of pretty Parisian novelties flooded into the country. From Seville came the famed Spanish leather, the Peau d'Espagne, and from Oporto new-style periwig boxes made of perfumed wood. Rouge known as "Silvester cochineal" from Italy and the harsher mineral vermillion came from the Dutch colonies in the East Indies. Fustic, a yellow dye obtained from either of two kinds of timber, was exported from the Isle of Crete, along with pumice-stones.

The entire cargo of a little Dutch shop, which unloaded at the Port of London in 1684, consisted of toilet articles. Joachim Gairard had sent over from Amsterdam three casks of Hungary water, 50lb of hair powder, 60 porringers with Spanish red, 400 perfume bags (sweet bags), 5lbs of "Jessamy oil butter" for making gloves fragrant, a quantity of distilled perfume-syrup, and a dozen wash balls.

 France was the usual supplier of these goods, but during the last years of Charles II's reign that the wars with Louis XIV cut off supplies of French perfumes and cosmetics forcing English merchants to  look farther afield. As a result, these luxury goods then had to be imported from Italy and a considerable trade developed with the Italian states. Italian perfumery in general had already earned a high reputation due to the rare and expensive gifts which ambassadors presented to the English court.

From the ports of Genoa and Leghorn, came vessels laden with a litany of costly essences, oils, and toilet waters, though as was the case before, orange flower and jasmine waters remained the preference over the others. After the peace with France, the trade with Italy still remained strong. 

From Marseilles, the Italian ports and the Levant came most of the dyes and aromatic ingredients that turned the Venetian ceruse or crayon to the right tincture. Cochineal or dried safflower petals produced scarlet, carnation or rose-pink according to taste; indigo produced blue; and henna, too, was in common use. The Levant Company traded in all the finery which Turkey and the Near East provided for the toilette. Included were hand painted silk handkerchiefs and wood fustic which was sent over by the ton. It was Venice, from its early commerce with Constantinople, was one of the first to introduce the fragrant treasures of the East.

The exotic cargoes of vessels returning from Aleppo, in Syria, the headquarters of the Levant Company, always contained a rich variety of dyes, drugs and spices for the apothecary. These items had come from Baghdad and farther east by caravan down to the English market at Aleppo or had been acquired from Cyprus, Venice or Marseilles. With the expansion of trade more varied dyes and perfumes became available for the toilette. 

At the instigation of Colbert and thanks to the foundation of the French East India Company (the Compagnie des Indes) in 1664, the French perfumers had many new basic products on which to craft and perfect their art. Under the direction of the French East Indies Company, plantings of aromatics were begun on the French islands in the Indian Ocean, Ile de France (Mauritius) and Ile de Bourbon (Reunion). These were the sources for the vetiver, geranium, cloves, nutmeg, ylang ylang, cinnamon, peppers, allspice, vanilla and patchouli that would be used extensively in French perfumery, as well as almonds which were incorporated into cosmetic pastes. 

Luckily, the perfumers had tax free access to these exotic foreign grown goods. It was also through the Dutch East India Company that perfumes, dyes and aromatic drugs - sandalwood, turmeric, gum opoponax and the mustard yellow pigment known as gamboge were brought westward. Ambergris, found floating atop the water or washed up on the beaches in the South Seas, was one of the chief fixatives used in perfumery, and long reputed to be a potent aphrodisiac. Musk, taken from the Tibetan musk deer found roaming the Himalayas, and purported to be an aphrodisiac as well, was the scent of choice for many in the 17th century.

To help boost the French economy, centers for flower production were being set up in Grasse allowing manufacturers access to domestically grown jasmine, violet, tuberose, orange blossom, lavender and rose instead of having to pay duty to foreign sourced raw materials. This helped to boost the economy and expanded the workforce, allowing the poorer classes access to employment and decreasing the poverty line. The manufacturers in grasse not only supplied the raw materials, but also controlled the extraction processes. At first, steam distillation was the only method used, followed by enfleurage, spreading flowers such as jasmine, jonquils, roses, and tuberose over an odorless greasy substance. As the grease would absorb the delicate flower essences and wilted, these flowers would constantly be replenished until the fat had been saturated enough. Then the grease was "washed" in alcohol which captured the scent without the grease. 

Jasmine, imported from India, was first found in the region of Grasse in 1605. Jasmine was one of the most costly of essences to procure for perfumery. Each individual jasmine blossom, needs to be picked by hand at dawn before it is fully open. Each blossom weighs just one tenth of a gram. It takes 800 kg of jasmine flowers to extract 1 kg of essence (just over 2lbs). 

In most countries, many of the perfumes, toilet waters and pomanders were made in the home by the talented housewife and in the great houses, it was in the still rooms that "beautifying washes, pomatum essences and other sweet secrets' were concocted by following traditional recipes. A good housewife was expected to be as proficient in making her own toiletry goods and perfumes as in making fruit preserves and meat pasties. Formularies of the period included recipes that incorporated many strange and foreign products, it is not know how many of these women were able to procure these expensive goods.

It was France, who turned perfume making into a world-renowned industry that still continues to delight us to this very day.

Frangipani:

Frangipani Gloves were named after the Marquis Frangipani, Marechal des Armies of Louis XIII., he having invented a new method of imparting perfume to gloves. 

The Historical and Critical Dictionary of Monsieur Pierre Bayle, 1697:

"Frangipani: A very ancient Roman family descended from the high ancestry of Roman senators, and allied to the greatest Houses of Europe, owes its name to an admirable charity exercised towards the poor during the famine. Mutio Frangipani served France in the Pope's troops during the reign of Charles IX. One of his grandsons had jobs in the same Kingdom under Louis XIII. 

This grand-child of Mutio Frangipani invented the composition for perfume and scents, which yet retain the name of Frangipane. From the following passage in Le Laboureur's Memoirs of Castelnau, regarding "the composition of the parfum and the scents, it appears that the brother of the Marquis Frangipani had a share in the invention." 

Menage, a contemporary, had met the Marquis and his inventions in Paris, and described it thusly in his Origini della Lingua Italiana, published at Geneva in 1685: "From one of those Lords Frangipani, we have seen him here in Paris, certain perfumed gloves were called Frangipani's Gloves." Mr. Menage after that quotes some Latin Verses of Cerifantes which are quite pretty. They are taken from an Ode he addressed to Voiture, and which was printed at the end of Balzac's Lettres Latines.

Balzac describes Frangipani in a letter to Madam Defloges: "He yesterday became willingly your tributary, and obliged himself to send you, every year a pretty good quantity of his pastilles (an odoriferous composition). In case you should approve of them, they will become more renowned than Frangipani's Gloves. But, as your people of Limousin might possibly mistake this occasion, you'll inform them (if you think proper), that the perfumer in question is worth above thirty thousand livres a year, and enjoys the chief dignity of this Province; and that this Glover is a Roman lord, Camp-Master or Major-General in the King's armies, and related to St Gregory the Great; and, what I value much more than all this, he is one of the worthiest men in the world.' 

 

The Cyclopædia, Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, 1819:

"Frangipane, an exquisite kind of perfume, frequently given to the leather whereof gloves, purses, bags & etc are made. It takes its name from a Roman nobleman, of the ancient family of Frangipani, who was the inventor of it. There is also a kind of perfumed liquor of the same denomination, said to have been invented by a grandson of Mutio Frangipani; and also a perfumed kind of ros solis, called by the same name."

The Monthly magazine of pharmacy, chemistry, medicine, 1883:

"This celebrated perfume is said to have been the invention of one of the earliest of the Roman nobles, named "Frangipani." One member of this ancient family, Mercutio Frangipani, served in France in the Papal army during the reign of Charles IX. The grandson of this nobleman was the Marquis Frangipani, Maréchal des Armées of Louis XIII, and he it was who invented a method of perfuming gloves, Guanti de Frangipani. Frangipani literally means "broken bread," and is derived from frangi, to break, and panis, bread. 

What the composition of the perfume that was gained for the Marquis so much reputation has not been discovered; this much, however, is certain, that various compositions as pomades, essence and powder, distinguished by the name frangipani, or frangipane were sold by perfumes down to the latter part of the last century [18th], when they gradually fell into disuse. GWS Piesse, in his "Art of Perfumery," says, "the powder or sachet is composed of every known spice in equal proportions, to which is added ground orris root in weight equal to the whole, with 1 percent of musk and civet. The extract from these powders was first prepared by Mercutio Frangipani, by digesting frangipani powders in spirits of wine, which dissolves out the fragrant principles. This has the merit of being the most lasting perfume known." 

The perfume of the present day bearing the name of Frangipani appears to be obtained from the frangipani plant, plumeria alba, which is said to yield the "eternal perfume" so popular, and is a native of the West India Islands. In Antigua and St Domingo, the plant grows in great abundance."

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1872:

"Mercutio Frangipani, the famous Italian botanist, visited the West Indies in 1493. The sailors perceived a delicious fragrance as they neared Antigua, and Mercutio told them it proceeded from the Plumeria Alba."

Perfumery and Essential Oil Record, 1915:

"On board the "Santa Maria" with Columbus was one Mercutio Frangipani, and in the Papal army assisting the French king Charles IX, against the Huguenots was a Count Mutio Frangipani, an alchemist, evidently of some repute. The grandson of the latter was the Marquis Frangipani....A revival of certain perfumes bearing the name occurred in the [18]50s, and formulae.." 

17th Century Perfume Flacons:

In the seventeenth century, perfumes were extraordinarily popular, and the vials that held them were marvels of craftsmanship. The perfume bottles were then known as "casting bottles" and used for casting or sprinkling liquid essences and perfumes on the floor, clothing and bed linens, often mentioned by early dramatists, its use was not confined to ladies. They were introduced about the middle of the sixteenth century and were still fashionable in the 17th century. Known as a Casting Glass or Springel Glass, ”presumably one for sprinkling or casting," contained perfumed water, primarily used at the toilette. 

Dr Muffett in Health's Improvement, London, 1655, says "Some men love not their meat nor drinke nor the aire nor their wives nor themselves unless they smel or rather stinck of sweet costly and foreign fumes." In 1599, it was reported that men of fashion used to carry about perfumes in bottles. Thus Brisk is described with "his civet and his casting glass" in Jonson's Works. They seem to have been sold at "milliner's shops." Middleton's Works said that "these casting bottles made of silver gilt were hung up in ladies bedrooms early in the seventeenth century."

Casting bottles were expensive luxury items, as were the perfumes contained within. The perfume bottles themselves, were very elaborate, made of carved rock crystal or fragile glass with gold or silver fittings, was often purchased separately, though, it cost many times the value of the perfume. Other bottles could be fashioned from crudely molded glass and fitted stoppers made of wood and tin, an expensive metal at the time. Some bottles would have been ornamented with "pomponne," a name given to all the different alloys with a copper base that imitate gold. The bottles were sold by jewelers and other traders. 

Perfumes had begun to be stored in lightly blown glass bottles, and was the material of the elite until the mid-17th century, when it quickly overtook pottery and stoneware. 

The Venetian glass-blowers of the period produced elegant scent bottles in colored glass. The Miotti family of glassmakers, infused molten glass with shards of copper hung suspended in the blob of glass which produced pieces that glittered with these sparkling flecks. The Germans specialized in the use of Milchglas, an opaque white glass that was frequently pear-shaped and decorated with gilt or enameled figures and floral motifs, much in the manner of porcelain.

The scent bottle assumed varied and elaborate forms: they were made in gold, silver, bronze, copper, glass, porcelain, enamel or a combination of these materials. Gold or silver scent bottles could be embellished with enameling, repoussé work, jeweled, engraved or chased, or made of delicate filigree. Some did double duty such as a combination of a scent bottle with its foot serving as a seal.

Scent-cases could be found in a myriad of shapes, the most common was in the form of a small watch.  Fine boxes and scent bottles were made in Denmark from the 17th century onwards, and also in the region south of its border where the craft was centered on the comparatively unknown German city of Tondern. Silver filigree scent-cases and pomanders were made in Spain, often with gilded accents.  "Sweet coffers" were perfumed boxes, receptacles for the smaller toilet articles.

The pomander still reigned supreme during the 17th century. Vinaigrettes were ornamented and perforated. "Cassolettes" or "printaniers," were little ivory boxes of various designs perforated to allow the escape of scent. "Vinaigrettes were ornamented and perforated and held sponges saturated with perfumed vinegar. Venetian Shells" were from the Adriatic, cleansed, soaked in perfume and dried. The "pot-pourri" vase did not appear until the end of the 17th century. It was very artistically modelled and designed and was used for over a century among the nobility of France and old Europe. Raised on feet, with lid, often the border around the neck was pierced with holes. The name has been applied to both vessel and the contents. In the 17th century, they were made in gold gilt and silver; and in India and China in bronze, by the 18th century, they were mostly made of porcelain. 

Not only were the scent bottles and cosmetic boxes beautifully crafted, but so were their labels. These little illustrations were objects of great attention by the manufacturers. Perfume merchants were also advertising heavily in the newspapers.

One recipe found in the 1609 volume, Delightes for Ladies by Hugh Plat, is for "sweet water" for a casting bottle is as follows: 

"Take three drammes of oyle of spike, one dramme of oyle of thyme, one dramme of oyle of lemmons, one dramme of oyle of cloves, then take one graine of civet, and three grains of the aforesaid composition well wrought together: temper them well in a silver spoon with your finger.

Temper them well in a silver spoone with your finger, then put the same into a silver boll, washing it out by little and little into the boll with a little Rosewater at once, til all the oyle be washed out of the spoone into the boule, and then doe the like by washing the same out of the boule with a little Rosewater at once, till all the sent be gotten out, putting the Rose water still in a glasse, when you haue tempered the same in the boule sufficiently. A pinte of Rose water will bee sufficient to mingle with the said proportion: and if you finde the same not stronge enough of the civet, then you may to every pinte put one graine and a halfe, or two graines of civet to the weight of three graines of the aforesaide composition of oyles."

List of Known Perfumers:

Nicolas Roussel was not the Louis XIII's only perfumer: on February 24, 1607, Maurice Desvieux, "perfumer and ordinary valet to the king" married Claire Filacier, daughter of the late Pierre Filacier, goldsmith in Paris.

The "Convenient Book of Addresses for Paris" by Abraham Pradel for the year 1692 informs us that the most famous perfumers who were then trading in powder and soap were established at the end of the bridge Saint Michel, rue de la Harpe, rue d'Hurepoix. Change at the entrance to Gesvres Street and Bourlabé Street near Trinity.

• Adam, a courier of the King's Cabinet for Italy, imports essences from Rome, Genoa, Nice, and lives with Mr. Crevon, a merchant in front of the Saint Honoré Barrier. 
• Bailly near Rue Pavée was preparing highly-valued toilet soaps, which he sent to the provinces and even abroad.
• Blégny, Monsieur's ordinary medical adviser, dispenses and debits his medicinal and aromatic drugs at the Royal Laboratory, Place du Collège des 4 Nations .
• Broker, established at the cul de sac of the small tiles, wholesales the distilled water and the chemical drugstores. Guilleri, installed in the Rue de la Tabletterie, brought from Portugal, the real water of Cordoba, the waters of orange blossoms, etc.
• Jean Chabert from 1679, held a boutique in Lyon, at the place des Terreaux under the sign "Au jardin de Provence." At the Jardin de Provence: Chez Jean Chabert, merchant perfumer, makes and sells all kinds of waxes from Spain, perfumes, essences, soaps and sundews from Turin.

• Guilleri, rue de la Tabletterie, brings from Portugal the real water of Cordoba. 
• Joubert, residing at the Soulier d'Or (Golden Shoe), rue des Vieilles-Étuves, is a peddler who who sells kinds of powders and common soaps at a very large market.
• Simon Devaux held a trade near the church of the Madeleine and composed highly sought-after perfumes.
• Simon Barbe, of 12 Hotton, Paris, the celebrated perfumer sold perfumes and cosmetics at his shop, Le Toison d'Or (The Golden Fleece) in the rue des Gravilliers, , started in 1650, most active 1696-1699.  Barbe was Louis XIV's personal perfumer and published Le parfumeur français in 1693 and Le parfumeur royal in 1699. He found a way to place his book under the protection of the Prince d'Harcourt; and, in the dedication he addressed to him, he had the art of showing himself to be at the same time courtier, perfumer and poet.

In the same book we also find some addresses of perfume traders:

• ''A L'Orangerie", on the rue de l'Arbre Sec was famous for its orange blossom waters. 
• Orange flower water and essences for the hair and for tobacco are brought and traded by the Provençals at the dead end of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois. 
• "The Royal Motto", installed on the Quay de Nesle, near rue de Guénégaud, was famous for its essences to perfume tobacco, its "Eau de Ange"' and ''Mille Fleurs'' being its chief exports, also philosophical cassolettes, amaranth milk which perfumes the rooms without amaranth which perfumes the rooms without hurting the vaporous, the essences amber, musk, etc.
• Antoine Artaud settled in Grasse and was a well known producer of raw materials, by the turn of the 18th century, another Artaud, Jean, operated a distillery which remained in use until 1996!

Below is a list of other perfumers, including those from the 16th century. Please note that this is an ongoing project, finding perfumers of the period is very difficult, I am researching various French archives in order to locate the names. This is by no means a complete list. I will add names as I find them. The dates in parenthesis are the dates I find the names mentioned, which is usually the year the person was operating. Extended information about these perfumers is very scant, sometimes I do not know where they operated.

A:

• Alberton, Robert, perfumer of London (1608, arrived on the first supply ship Phoenix in Virginia Colony). Perfume was manufactured in Virginia and shipped to England within two years after the founding of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown . This perfume was manufactured by Robert Alberton , who came to the colony in 1608. Robert Alberton also appears to have made himself useful , as the record discloses that samples of perfume made in Virginia were shipped to England the following winter.
• Allart, (Alcart) Thomas, master glover- perfumer, residing outside the Saint-Michel gate  (1615)
• Allart, Jean, master glover perfumer in Paris,residing on rue Saint-Denis, parish of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois  (1655)
• Allie, Imbert, domestic perfumer of Mr. de Pontac, Advisor to the Grand Council, native of Montpellier (1605)
• Arnaud, Jehan, master perfumer (1658)
• Auduit, Jean, merchant glover and perfumer, residing in Paris on rue Tirechappe, parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (1675)
• Aulmont, Jean, distiller and perfumer (1652)
• Aymard, Francois, master perfumer glover on the Saint-Michel bridge, Saint-Barthélémy parish (1626)

B:

• Barde, Gabriel, master glover and perfumer in Paris, residing on rue “des Lonbards, parish of Saint-André des Artz” (sic) (1640)
• Barde, Jean, perfume merchant, residing rue de la Colandre, parish of Saint-Germain (1635)
• Basgappé, (Basgape) Annibal, native of Milan, Italy, perfumer to the Queen, mother of the King, residing in Paris rue de l'Arbre sec, parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (1629-1636)
• Beglan, Jacques, master perfumer glover in Paris (1636-1653)
• Berger, Pierre, master apothecary (1644)
• Berault, Antoine, master glover perfumer in Paris (1609)
• Berenger, Jean, merchant glover perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, residing in the Palace enclosure (1604)
• Bertrand, Charles, perfumer and distiller from Nîmes who tried to be accepted into mastery without passing the usual tests and to succeed Désaurières whose shop he had bought
• Boldsworth, Edmund, (also known as Bolesworth), the King's perfumer, Temple Bar, London (1682)
• Boiteux, Nicolas, master glover and perfumer in Paris, rue Bardelle (1635)
• Bonne, Henri, master perfumer glove maker (died 1607)
• Bonne, Macé, master perfumer glove maker (died September 7, 1605)
• Bonnevan, (Bonnevaud) Joachim, master glover- perfumer rue de la Barillerie (1607-1608)
• Boudier, Henri, merchant glover and perfumer , residing in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, rue Saint-Lambert, parish of Saint-Sulpice (1672)
• Bouler, Guillaume, master perfumer glover (1659)
• Boullonnoys, Jehan, master perfumer glove rue de la Pelleterie parish Saint-J. of the B. (1641)
• Bourry, Charles, merchant glover and perfumer in Paris, residing on the Saint-Michel bridge, Saint-Barthélémi parish (1656)
• Brigousteau, Antoine, perfumer to the Marquis de Villeroy, rue des Augustins (1637)
• Brisart, Jean, perfume merchant, (1655)
• Broche, Andre, perfume merchant, residing in Paris rue Beaubourg, Saint-Nicolas parish (1611)
• Browne, William, perfumer in England, listed in the The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640.
• Buat, Jean, glove merchant perfumer, bourgeois of Paris (1684)
• Buillard, Edme, perfume merchant on the Quai des Orfèvres in the Île du Palais, parish of Saint-Barthélemy (1659)
• Burocher, Pierre, perfumer , rue de Hurepoix (1661)
• Buyard, (Buyart) Jean, master glover perfumer, rue de la Pelleterie (1622-1637)
• Buyart, (Buyard) Nicolas, glover- perfumer in Paris, rue de la Barillerie, Maison de l’Ecu de France, in front of the Palace  (1627-1644) 
• Buzzurui, Giovanni, perfumer, originally from Palermo in Sicily (1647)

C:

• Carrier, Jean, master perfumer glover,  living on rue de la Barillerie, in front of the Palace. (1606-1607)
• Chabert, Jean, from Lyon (1679)
• Chambellan, Jean, merchant perfumer, residing rue des Arcis (1637)
• Charpentier, Antoine, master glover- perfumer in Paris (1642-1644)
• Chausson, Claude, master glover and perfumer in Paris, residing on rue Dauphine, Saint-André-des-Arts parish (1659)
• Chauvet, Nicolas, perfumer, (reign of Louis XIII)
• Chevalier, Vincent, ribbon maker, perfumer, rue de la Vieille-Monnaie (1542)
• Cocquet, perfumer, (1665)
• Collier, Jean, glove merchant perfumer, bourgeois of Paris (1686)
• Concordan, Joseph, Glove merchant perfumer in Paris (1684)
• Conteux, Pierre,  master glove maker and perfumer rue de la Savaterie parish of Saint-Martial en la Cité, Paris, rue de la Pelleterie (1631-1636)
• Conuent, Charles, perfumer (reign of Louis XIII)
• Coulon, Francoise, merchant glover and perfumer. Bourgeois of Paris (1687)
• Courtan, (Courtain) Pierre, ordinary perfumer to the king, perfumer merchant a la Croix de Lorraine, bourgeois of Paris (1623-1649)
• Courty, Nicolas, ordinary perfumer to the king residing on rue de la Verrerie (1650)
• Cousteur, Pierre, master perfumer glover (1622)
• Crichton, John  of Dublin (1689-1692) John Crichton , perfumer in Dublin , who with his wife had to fly from Ireland because of the troubles and dangers on account of the papists , petitions and is granted licence to sell perfumes and to keep a shop for selling the same in his dwelling (Edinburgh) for a period of a year.
• Croissant, Jehan C, (Jean) merchant glover perfumer of the King, (1647-1658)
• Croissant, Nicolas, merchant glover perfumer in Paris (1647)
• Cuvillier, Claude, perfumer merchant, rue de la Pelleterie (1653)

D:

• Dallebel, Jean Baptiste, master glover and perfumer in the Faubourg Saint-Germain des Prés lez Paris, rue de Seine, parish of Saint-Sulpice (1648)
• Damascus, John, Glove merchant perfumer . Bourgeois of Paris (1682)
• Danjou, Antoine, merchant perfumer (1699)
• Dari, Philippe, perfumer , residing in Faubourg Saint-Lazare lez Paris, Saint-Laurent parish (1641)
• Darly, Francois,  master glover- perfumer, Bgs of Paris rue Saint-Denis, rue de la Heaumerie (1626-1639)
• Dauvergne, Pierre, merchant glove maker-perfumer residing on rue de la Vieille-Draperie (1629)
• Despeignes, Joachin (1682) Joachim Despeignes, a perfume merchant in Lyon, makes and sells several kinds of Spanish wax, wholesale and retail, jumping powder, soaps. 
• Debezieux, Melchior, 1655, perfumer merchant of the city of Aix but he settles in Grasse 
• Debry, Michel, companion perfumer to Jean Gervais, later master glover-perfumer in 1638 in Paris, residing on rue Saint-Honoré, parish of Saint-Eustache (1636-1638)
• Deferon, Alexandre, perfumer to the King (1615)
• De France, Hugues, master merchant glover- privileged perfumer, residing on rue des Bourdonnais, parish of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois (1660-1683)
• De France, Nicolas, perfumer -glove merchant (1692)
• Delaistre, (De Laistre) Louis, perfume merchant, rue Saint-Anthoine  (1637-1650)
• De La Porte, (Delaporte) Jean, master perfumer glover (1650)
• De La Porte, Nicolas, glover perfumer, rue de la Savaterie (1642)
• Deloche, Marc Antoine, perfume merchant from Montpellier (1680)
• De Merle, (Demarle) Claude, ordinary glover-perfumer to the King (reign of Louis XIII), master perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, living in Paris at the end of the Saint-Michel bridge, behind the sergeants' barrier. (1621-1634)
• De Quesnay, Jean, Perfumer in Paris. Rue Lamignon, Psse St Barthélémy (1699)
• Deschamps, Robert, master glover perfumer, rue Saint-Sulpice (1649)
• D'Escobart, Francois, perfumer to the king and valet (1539)
• Despeigues, Joachin (1682)
• Despreaulx, Jean, master glover perfumer, living in Pont-aux-Marchands (1612)
• Devieux (Desvieux), Alexandre, valet and perfumer to the King (reign of Louis XIII), residing in Paris at the Mercure rue Saint-Honoré (1606-1615)
• Desvieux, (Devieux) Louis and Maurice Desvieux (junior) were born to Claude Haranger, daughter of a grocer in the parish of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, who was married in 1611 in Saint Eustache to Maurice Desvieux, the elder.
• Desvieux, Maurice (Mauritius), called the elder, merchant, glover, ordinary perfumer and valet to the king, residing in rue Saint Honoré opposite Hôtel d'Aligre. Must have been the son of Alexandre Desvieux, ordinary perfumer to the king and probably the brother of Dom Alexandre Desvieux. (1643-1656)
• Didier, Esprit, master perfumer glover (1614)
• Dolle, Michel, jeweler merchant and perfumer (1656)
• Dorly, Francois, glover perfumer in Paris (1632)
• Doulle, (Douille) Sanson, master perfumer glover in Paris rue Saint-Denis (1628-1633)
• Dranias, Jean, master glover perfumer (1650)
• Du Castel, Adrien, master glove maker and perfumer, living on rue Planche-Mibray, Saint-Gervais parish (1633-1638)
• Dufossey-Desvaux, Charles, wardrobe perfumer retainer (1686)
• Dulac, Guillaume, Ordinary merchant glover and perfumer to the Queen. Bourgeois of Paris (1687)
• Du Lac, Charles, glover merchant, perfumer in Paris (1698)
• Dumont, Samuel, perfumer in Lyon (1609)
• Dumoustier, (Du Moustier) Abraham, master glover perfumer, residing rue Saint-Denis, by Saint-Eustache (1640-1642)
• Duply, Joachim, master glover perfumer in Paris (1658)
• Dupuis, Alexandre, perfume merchant (1609)
• Durand, Gabriel, master perfumer glover (1651)
• Durie, Antoine, rue du Bout-du-Monde (1623)
• Duris, Jean, perfumer glove merchant (1682)
• Du Setan, Pierre, perfumer , rue Galande (1552)
• Dutel, Charles, master glover and perfumer in Paris, rue de la Calandre (1628-1635)
• Duvignot, Pierre, glover and perfumer (1648)

E:

• Ejusdem, (active 1698-1712), The Royal Perfumer or the art of perfuming with flowers & composing all kinds of perfumes for smell & taste in Paris.

F:

• Faure,(Faurre) Jean, master perfumer glover, rue Saint-Honoré, Paris  (1642-1667)
• Fauvet, (Faunet) Nicolas, master perfumer in Paris, residing on rue Neuve-Saint-Louis, opposite Mademoiselle's stables.  (1648-1650)
• Favrot, Etienne, glover and perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue de l'Arbre secq, parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (1670)
• Feurt, Jean, glover merchant and perfumer, living in Paris rue Saint-Antoine, Saint-Gervais parish (1678)
• Feminis, Gian Paolo (Jean Paul) started in 1693, barber, born in Val Vigezzo near Santa Maria Maggiore , left his homeland to seek his fortune in Germany , and in 1709 he began marketing Aqua Mirabilis
• Feroni, (Ferony, Alexandro) Alexandre, ordinary perfumer of the King’s Chamber, rue de l’Arbre-Sec, also Rome in 1630, later residing on rue Saint-Honoré (1619-1658)
• Flache, Antoine, (1646)
• Fleury, Gabriel, master perfumer (1653)
• Fleury, Paul, perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue de l'Arbre-Sec, parish of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1643)
• Fontaine, Antoine, master perfumer in Paris (1658)
• Fontaine, Gilles F, master perfumer glover (1649)
• Francourt, (Francoeur) Pierre, merchant jeweler perfumer, bourgeois perfumer of Paris and valet of the King's chamber, residing on rue Saint-Honoré, parish of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1616-1663)
• Frichet, Chretien,  master glove maker and perfumer, master glover- perfumer in Paris, residing at the Marché Neuf ,later residing on Grande rue du Faubourg Saint-Victor (1634-1639)

G:

• Gaborau, Hugues, merchant glover and perfumer, rue du Temple (1696)
• Gaboureau, Pierre, Glove merchant, perfumer , Bourgeois of Paris, r. Saint-Denis from a house in lad. rue de la Barillerie (1639-1686)
• Gadble, Jean, master perfumer glover, residing in Faubourg Saint-Germain, near Le Laboureur (1636)
• Gallimard, Jean, started in 1660.
• Gallois, Michel, ordinary perfumer to the king (1686)
• Gambar, Philippe, glover merchant, perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, residing on rue Saint-Denis, parish of Saint-Leu Saint-Gilles (1645)
• Gaudouin, Jean, perfume merchant residing on rue Saint-Denis, later perfumer merchant, cloister and parish of Ste Opportune, Paris (1633-1655)
• Gean, Jacques, perfumer, from the Maison du roi (1673)
• Gentil, Jean, perfumer in Paris at the great Augustinian convent,  Perfumer residing in Paris on quai des Augustins, under the name of Château Gaillard  (1636)
• Geran, Gilles, master perfumer glover in Paris, residing in Paris, rue Aubry-le-Boucher, Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles parish (1672-1674)
• Gervais R, rue St Martin, Paris (c1601-1699)
• Gervais, Jean, merchant glover and ordinary perfumer to the King,master glove maker, perfumer to the King, bourgeois of Paris, residing on rue Saint-Honoré, parish of Saint-Eustache  (1630-1640)
• Gidar, Pierre, master glover- perfumer, residing between the two Portes Sant-Jacques (1642)
• Gilette, Christophe, master perfumer glove maker
• Gilles, Claude, master perfumer, living in Paris rue du Paon parish Saint-Cosme (1634-1636)
• Giran, Nicolas, merchant master perfumer glover, residing on rue Saint-Antoine, parish of Saint-Paul (1677)
• Girau, Baptiste, perfume gantier, native of Milan (naturalized in France in 1653)
• Giraudeau, Benoist, perfumer (1664)
• Gisors, Pierre de, glover perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, residing rue du Faubourg (1633-1653)
• Gobert, Jehan, (Jean)  glover and perfume merchant , bourgeois of Paris, living on the Saint-Michel bridge, Saint-Barthélémy parish (1636-1644)
• Godard, Antoine, marchand gantier parfumeur (1608-1636)
• Godart, Jean, ordinary master perfumer -glove merchant to the King, located in Popincourt (1634-1638)
• Godefroy, Charles, master glover perfumer, Pont Saint-Michel (1642-1650)
• Godefroy, Jehan, merchant glover perfumer, (1645)
• Gomand, Charles, glover perfumer, in Paris, rue des Boucheries parish of Saint-Sulpice (1699)
• Gorant, Laurent, Glove merchant perfumer . Rue d’Arnetal, Psse St Sauveur (1699)
• Goudot, Pierre, perfume merchant in Paris, residing at the Saint-Michel bridge (1630)
• Goujon, Michel, master perfumer glover, rue de la Tannerie (1636-1646)
• Grandebourg, Nicolas de, perfumer to the king, rue de Perpignan (1562-1568)
• Grimouville, (Grimonville) Hector de, ordinary perfumer to His Royal Highness, residing in Paris, rue du Petit-Lion, Saint-Sauveur parish (1650)
• Grouart, Jacques, mercier-perfumer, residing in the courtyard of the Palais, (1613)
• Guerrier, (Guerrie) Pierre, glover merchant- perfumer , bourgeois of Paris- Rue Vieille Boucherie (1637-1699)
• Guichard, Michel, parfumeur 
• Guichard, Antoine, glover perfumer (1670)

H:

• Hainfray, Guillaume, glover and perfume merchant in Paris living in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, near the quay and Porte de Nesle, Saint-Sulpice parish (1650-1661)
• Hardy, Pasquier, glover and perfumer , rue du Four, on the ditches between the Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain gates(1638-1644)
• Haunat, Elie, master perfumer glover (1650)
• Hay, Francois, perfume merchant residing in Paris (1581)
• Hay, Robert, perfume merchant (1592)
• Haye, Francois de la, master perfumer in Paris (1614)
• Hebert, Gilles, master perfumer instrument player , rue Saint-Jacques, Saint-Séverin parish  (1620)
• Hebert, Jerome, merchant perfumer (1676)
• Henry, Denis, master glover perfumer, Rue de la Pellerie  (1639)
• Herdret, Jacques, master glover and perfumer in Paris (1654)
• Hindret, Jean, master merchant glover and perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, cour Saint-Eloi (1610-1625)
• Hochez, Emery, master perfumer, rue St Denis ((1639)
• Houde, Jean-Baptiste, parfumeur de la Garde-Robe (1676)
• Hude, Jean, master perfumer glover (1650)
• Hurlot, Etienne, honorable man, master glover- perfumer (1656)
• Husson, Pierre, servant parfumeur (1673)
• Husson, Nicolas, merchant r. of the 4 winds at fg Saint-Germain (1635)
• Huet, Francois, ordinary perfumer to the King (1688)
• Huve, Pierre (1650)

I:

• Issaubert, Pierre, merchant glover and perfumer, Paris (1650)

J:

• Jolu, Cautien, merchant master glover and perfumer , bourgeois of Paris (1609)
• Jost, Jean, glover perfumer, bourgeois of Paris
• Jouffret, Pierre, merchant glover and perfumer to the King (1660)
• Jourdan, Charles,  Privileged perfume merchant following the Court, rue des Mauvais Garçons in Paris, Saint-Sulpice parish (1697)
• Jouvray, Claude, perfumer in Lyon (1615)

K:

L:

• Labbe, Nicolas, master glover perfumer in Paris (1630)
• La Gaillard, Jean-Gervaud, glove merchant perfumer (1683)
• Lagrene, (Lengrene) Louis, master and merchant perfumer glover (1648-1650)
• Laideguive, Antoine, perfume merchant, living in Paris at the end of the Pont Saint-Michel going to Les Augustins (1654)
• Laistre, Louis de, merchant haberdasher perfumer (1609)
• Lalot, (Lallot) Jacques, master perfumer glover (1633-died by 1680)
• Lambert, Antoine Zacharie, glover merchant, perfumer, bourgeois of Paris (1682-1698)
• Langlois, Gabriel, master perfumer glover, residing on the Saint-Michel bridge, Saint-Séverin parish (1625-1628)
• Langlois, Jean, bourgeois of Paris, master perfumer -glove merchant, Saint-Michel bridge, parish (1656)
• Langlois, Leonard, merchant glover perfumer (1644)
• Langlois, Mathieu, master glover perfumer in Paris on Pont au Change (1653)
• Lariviere, Charles, master perfumer glover (1650)
• La Salle, Nicolas de, perfume merchant , bourgeois of Paris, residing on rue de l'Arbre sec, parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (1645)
• Laumosnier, Pierre, glover and perfumer (1695)
• Leaute, Emery, glover perfumer, rue Bordelle (1646)
• Le Becu, Denis, Ordinary perfumer of the King's chamber and cabinet, residing in Faubourg Saint-Germain, rue du Vieux-Colombier (1631)
• Le Bouc, Michel, master perfumer glover r. of the Barillerie parish of Saint-J. of the B.  (1639)
• LeBrun, Michel, master perfumer glover in Paris, (1637)
• LeClerc, Etienne, master glover perfumer in Paris at faubourg Saint-Victor, in 1639 residing in Paris at the sign de la Flûte, rue Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois  (1606-1644)
• LeClerc, (Le Clerc) Louis, master glover perfumer,  in Paris, living in front of the Saint-Leuproy church, Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois parish (1650-1659)
• LeClerc, Jacques, merchant glover perfumer, town of Paris (1682)
• LeClerc, Hugues, master glove maker, perfumer in Paris, residing in the rue and parish of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois (1646)
• LeClerc, Louis, master glover perfumer, rue de la Savaterie, later at rue Saint-Martin (1645-1650)
• Le Cousteus, Pierre, master glove maker- perfumer and bourgeois of Paris rue de la Pelleterie (1635)
• Le Cousteur, Francois, merchant glover and perfumer , bourgeois of Paris (1659)
• Le Febure, Adrien, master perfumer glove maker , bourgeois of Paris, residing on rue de la Savaterie, parish of Saint-Germain le Vieux (1632)
• Lefebure, Jean, ordinary perfumer to the King, rue de la Tisseranderie (1636-1651)
• Lefebvre, Claude, master perfumer glove maker (1643)
• Le Febvre, Jacques, master glover perfumer in Paris, residing in the grounds of the Palace, parish of Sainte-Chapelle (1617)
• Lefevre, Pierre, glover perfumer,  rue de la Barillerie (1606)
• Le Gouteur, Michel, master glover perfumer, (1628)
• Lhermite, Jean, master glove maker- perfumer, bourgeois of Paris, rue du Petit-Lion, Saint-Sauveur parish (1646)
• Lelievre, (Le Lieure) Pierre, perfumer of the wardrobe (1673-1686)
• Lelievre, Simon, glover perfumer (1636), son of Pierre Lelievre.
• Leleu, Francois, master perfumer glove maker in Paris, rue Bordelle (1624-1642)
• Le Loux, Francois, glover merchant, perfumer , bourgeois of Paris (1662)
• Levieux, Morice, valet and ordinary perfumer to the King (1609)
• Le Maire, Martin, perfumer to the Queen of France, rue Saint Honoré  (1626-1652)
• Le Mercier, Lambert, master glover perfumer, rue Gervais Laurent (1608-1642)
• Le Merle (Marle), Claude, perfumer -glovemaker, ordinary perfumer to the king, residing at the entrance to the Pont Saint-Michel (1638)  
• Lemerre, Claude, ordinary perfumer to the King, drainer of the Pont Saint-Michel.(1639)
• Lemoyne, Spire, Glove merchant perfumer in Paris (1685)
• Le Quint, Jean, glover merchant perfumer,  residing in Paris, rue Saint-Louis, Marais du Temple (1676)
• Lermet, Jean, master perfumer (1658)
• Le Roux, Nicolas, glover perfumer merchant, (1647)
• Le Roy, Julien, perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue de la Vieille-Boucherie, Saint-Séverin parish (1626)
• Le Tellier, Hierome, perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue de la Juiverie (1610)  
• Le Tellier, Pierre, perfume merchant in Paris (1611)
• Liégeois, Eloi, master perfumer glove maker, bourgeois of Paris, residing in rue and parish of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie (1645-1647)
• Lieutaud, (Lientand) Francois, merchant perfumer to the King, residing in Paris, rue Saint-Honoré, Saint-Eustache parish, at the Jardin de Provence sign. Ordinary perfumer to the king, died on September 26, 1670, rue Saint-Honoré, under the sign of the Jardin de Provence. (1654-1656)
• Ligeard, Jean, perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue Royale, Saint-Paul parish (1656)
• Litta, Francois, from Milan, perfumer to Louis XIII, lived in r. Saint-Honoré . Francois Litta and his brother-in-law Jean Baptiste Soma, who lived in rue Saint Honore, with their uncle and father-in-law, the perfumer Alexandre Desvieux. (1614)
• Lorfebure, (Lorefebvre) Claude, master perfumer glover, rue Bordelle paroisse Saint-Etienne du Mont (1644-1683)
• Loy, Francois, bourgeois of Paris, master perfumer glove maker, rue Saint-Antoine, Saint-Gervais parish  (1655)
• Lucy, Charles, journeyman perfumer, residing on rue de Gèvres, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie parish (1662)

M:

• Majeur, Denis, master glover in Paris, residing on rue Saint-Denis, parish of Saint-Eustache (1609)
• Mallinoire, Jean-Baptiste, Merchant, glover, perfumer, bourgeois of Paris (1682)
• Malyvoire, Gabrielle, master glove maker and perfumer in Paris, residing on rue de la Pelleterie, parish of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie (1646)
• Malivoire, Louis, master glove maker and perfumer in Paris, residing on rue de la Pelleterie, parish of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie (1653)
• Masson, Francois, master perfumer-glover to the King, rue du Petit Lyon, Saint-Sauveur parish (1633-1649)
• Martial, started in 1650-1652.
• Martin, Nicolas, master perfumer glover, rue de la Pelleterie, Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie parish (1637-1638)
• Matte, Jean, glover perfumer, Saint-Jean-de-Latran Cloister (1698)
• Mercure, Alexandre, called "Mercure Le Vieux", valet and perfumer to the king,  ordinary perfumer to the Duke of Epernon, residing on rue de Grenelle, Saint-Eustache parish (1584-1626)
• Merseau, Francois (1644)
• Mersenne, (Mercennes) Charles de, merchant perfumer to the King (1626-1647)
• Mercenne, (Marceynes) Francois de, master glover perfumer, Rue Saint-Honoré (1615-1630)
• Manotte, Jacques, merchant glover perfumer, residing rue and parish of Ste Opportune (1647)
• Mendez, Manouel, Perfumer to the Queen, residing rue Saint-Honoré, Saint-Eustache parish (1603)
• Moisson, Jean, master perfumer (1573)
• Montari, (Mautauri, Montaury) Fulvio, ordinary perfumer of King Louis XIII, merchant and perfumer to the King, residing in Paris rue de l'Arbre-Sec, parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, (1636-1647)
• Montier, Francois Julien, glover- perfumer in Paris, residing on Grande rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine (1699)
• Moreau, Claude, master glover perfumer, rue aux Fèves, Saint-Marcial parish (1632-1650)
• Morel, Jean, merchant master glove maker and perfumer, bourgeois of Paris living in the Palace enclosure, later   residing in Saint-Marcel lez Paris, rue de Lourcine, Saint-Hippolyte parish (1602-1610)
• Morel, Louis, master glove maker and perfumer r. de la Pelleterie parish of Saint-J. of the B. (1640)
• Mothe, Richard de la, master perfumer glove maker in Paris, residing on rue Saint-Denis, Saint-Eustache parish (1640)
• Mouchet, Hugues, master glover perfumer, residing in Percherons near Saint-Eustache, from a shop in the Palais, later residing on the Notre-Dame bridge (1648-1649)
• Moutier, Francois Julien, glove maker and perfumer in Paris, main street in the Faubourg Saint Antoine, Saint-Paul parish (1699)
• Moyne, Spire, master perfumer glover in Paris, residing on the street and near the old Porte Dauphine, parish (1679)
• Musset, Jean, master glover perfumer (1626-1627)
• Muttera, Louis, master glover perfumer in Paris (1616)
• Millot, (Mylott) Michel, perfumer glover, Ordinary perfumer to the King, between the Saint-Germain and Buci gates, residing in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Philbert (1605-1627)

N:

• Nercan, Pierre, perfume merchant (1652)
• Nobert, (Norbert, Nerbert) David, master perfumer glover in Paris, rue Dauphine (1631-1637)
• Norgue, Charles, master perfumer glover (1648)
• Norquee, Francois, merchant perfumer glover (1698)
• Nortier, Francois, master glover and perfumer (1646)
• Nortier, Charles, master perfumer glover (1646)

O:

• Orient, Edme, master perfumer glover in Paris, living in front of the main door of the Palace (1618-1650)
• Oudaille, Rene, Merchant perfumer (1650)

P:

• Palita, Gustave, perfumer, 67, rue de Provence (1607)
• Palluau, Louis, merchant glove perfumer,residing on rue de la Huchette (1620)  
• Pascal, Daniel, perfumer to the Queen of England, residing in said Saint-Germain des Prés , rue des Boucheries (1655)
• Paulmier, Antoine, glover and perfume merchant , residing in Paris, rue Saint-Denis, Sainte-Opportune parish (1657)
• Pellicano, Hierosme, perfumer to the King, bourgeois of Paris, residing on the Pont Marchand (1609-1611)
• Penel, Robert, master perfumer glover, residing on rue Saint-Honoré, Saint-Eustache parish (1646-1663)
• Penet, Henri, ordinary master merchant glover and perfumer to the King, residing on rue Saint-Honoré (1646-1648)
• Pirron, Sulpice, perfume merchant, bourgeois of Paris, rue des Boucheries (1695)
• Plastrier, Nicolas, master glover and perfumer in Paris, rue Champfleury, parish of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois (1625)
• Pocheret, Jean, master glover and perfumer , rue Saint-Denis, Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles parish (1621)
• Polet, Zacharie, glover and perfume merchant, rue Saint-Denis (1696)
• Ponnier, Guillaume,  honorable man, perfume merchant (1633)
• Pontot, Pierre, master perfumer glove maker in Paris, residing on rue Saint-Honoré, Saint-Eustache parish (1662)
• Potret, Pierre, wardrobe perfumer (1676)
• Pouvers, Guillaume, merchant perfumer (1637)
• Prevost, Dominique, marchand parfumeur (1613)
• Prevost, Pierre, bourgeois perfumer- glove merchant from Paris,  residing on rue des Deux-Portes (1614-1695)
• Proye, Antoine de la,  glover and perfumer , rue des Rats (1636

Q:

R:

• Rabusseau, Pierre, merchant perfumer, rue Neuve Notre-Dame (1580-1608)
• Ramier, Henri, master perfumer glover, bourgeois of Paris. (1696)
  
• Renoel, Simon, master perfumer glove maker , rue de la Pelleterie (1623)
• Riand, Francois,  master glover-perfumer, residing in Faubourg Saint-Germain, parish of Saint-Sulpice (1634)
• Riviere, Charles de la, master glover and perfumer, living in Paris on rue des Prêcheurs, Saint-Eustache parish (1637)
• Riviere, Pierre de la, master glover- perfumer, rue Montorgueil (1660)
• Roberge, Michel, honorable man, master glover- perfumer (1656)
• Roch, Jean, perfumer, residing on rue au Maire (1632)
• Roger, Balthazard, perfume merchant, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, residing in the house of King Saint-Louis on the ditch near the Saint-Michel gate (1625)
• Roland, Antoine, glover perfumer (1643)
• Rolland, Thomas, master glover- perfumer in Paris (1642)
• Rondeau, Claude, master glover perfumer in Paris, rue Vallée de Misère (1633-1653)
• Roudeau, Gabriel, merchant glover and perfumer , bourgeois of Paris, residing on rue Saint-Denis, parish of Saint-Leu Saint-Gilles (1643-1663)
• Rousseau, Francois, master glover and perfumer, residing at the Marché aux poirées (1641)
• Roussel, Nicolas, goldsmith and perfumer (1608)
• Rousselet, Nicolas, gantier parfumeur (1641)
• Roussin, Pierre, master glover- perfumer (1648)

S:

• Saint-Estienne, Eustache-Robert de, merchant glover and perfumer in Paris (1699)
• Saint-Estienne, Jean de, merchant glover and perfumer in Paris (1699)
• Saltini, Jacques, apothecary to Marie de Medici
• Sanson, Nicolas, master glover- perfumer (1635-1636)
• Seroux, Jean-Baptiste, Glove merchant perfumer in Paris (1697)
• Seroni, Alexandre, perfumer (reign of Louis XIII)
• Seullin, Noel, bourgeois glove merchant from Paris, residing at the end of the Saint-Michel bridge (1607)

T:

• Tafforeau, Jean, master glove maker and perfumer (1635)
• Thierrier, Charles, glover perfumer (1617)
• Thierry, Charles,  master perfumer glover (1628)
• Toutain, Jacques, master perfumer glover, Pont Saint-Michel (1683-1689)

U:

V:

• Vaillant, Edouard, perfumer (merchant) (1648)
• Vallee, Michel, rough haberdashery merchant, jeweler and perfumer in Paris, residing on rue and near Porte Dauphine, parish of Saint-André des Arts (1644)
• Vallois, Antoine de, glover perfumer, rue de la Barillerie (1622)
• Vaulx, (Devaulx, Devaux) Simon de, master perfume merchant in Paris, residing on rue de la Calandre, residing rue de l'Arbre-Sec,Ordinary valet to the King (reign of Louis XIII) and perfumer to His Majesty, residing on rue de la Juiverie, had his shop near the Madeleine on the way down from the Notre-Dame bridge.(1569-1620)

• Vieux, Mercure de, perfumer  (reign of Louis XIII)
• Vigier, (Viger) Estienne, born 1578, perfume merchant, valet of Madame, the only sister of the King (reign of Louis XIII), residing on rue Saint-Honoré, parish of Saint-Eustache  (1603)
• Villemot, Francois, rue de la Pelleterie (1634)
• Villette (or La Villette), Charles, master perfumer glover merchant (1645-1646)
• Villette, Jacques, glover- perfumer, residing on rue Boucherie-Gloriette, Saint-Séverin parish (1634)
• Villette, Michel, glover and perfumer in Paris residing at the rue de Mariette du Petit Pont  (1634-1639)
• Voilliard, (Voilliart) Etienne, Bourgeois merchant perfumer, of Paris and rue de l’Arbre-sec (1637-1646)
• Vuarnet, Claude, master glover- perfumer in Paris (1645)

W:

• Waite, John (England)
• Wayle, John (England)

X:

Y:

Z: