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Lot Essay
The pomander, from the French pomme d'ambre, for apple of amber, is the term for either the silver or gold containers that were used to contain scents or for the scents themselves. They were used to ward off bad smells and, in the mind of the 17th century citizen, to thus protect against infection.
In their early form the pomander would have held a single ball, the formula for which is recounted in 1831 from a 1586 'receipt to make a pomander' by Frederic Madden in Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary, Daughter of King Henry the Eighth, afterwards Queen Mary.
"The ingredients were, first benjamin, storax, calamite and labdanum, finely levigated, and dissolved in a little rose-water over the fire. The composition was then taken out, and powder of cinnamon, sweet sanders and cloves added to it, all of which were well mixed and rubbed together. After this, ambergris, musk, and civit, of each three grains, were prepared, the first being dissolved and mingled with the other two... take your pome and by degrees to gather up the last three ingredients, kneading and mixing them well with the ball, till they become perfectly incorporated with it."
By the 17th century the pomander had developed into the distinct form of the present example with segments inside to contain a number of different scents.
In their early form the pomander would have held a single ball, the formula for which is recounted in 1831 from a 1586 'receipt to make a pomander' by Frederic Madden in Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary, Daughter of King Henry the Eighth, afterwards Queen Mary.
"The ingredients were, first benjamin, storax, calamite and labdanum, finely levigated, and dissolved in a little rose-water over the fire. The composition was then taken out, and powder of cinnamon, sweet sanders and cloves added to it, all of which were well mixed and rubbed together. After this, ambergris, musk, and civit, of each three grains, were prepared, the first being dissolved and mingled with the other two... take your pome and by degrees to gather up the last three ingredients, kneading and mixing them well with the ball, till they become perfectly incorporated with it."
By the 17th century the pomander had developed into the distinct form of the present example with segments inside to contain a number of different scents.