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Dec 1, 2010

the scent bottle





Elsa Peretti Parfume
Rock Crystal scent-bottle, the body carved out of a single piece of stone, 
curved in shape to echo a bean, with separate stopper.



This bottle was designed and made in 1981 to hold an eighth of an ounce of Elsa Peretti's perfume, 
which she had worked on for four years. 
One thousand examples were carved and numbered 
in conjunction with the launch of the perfume.
Peretti's hardstone carving is all done by Chinese carvers in Hong Kong. 
The Chinese have long excelled in the carving of hardstones. 
Peretti's scent-bottle echoes the Chinese hardstone snuff-bottle, made to be held in the hand, 
exquisitely decorated and highly prized in the 17th and 18th centuries.








Rock crystal showing the stages in carving a scent-bottle: 
lump of rough unhewn crystal.  
outline shape with beginning of hollow for perfume.  
shape with slight curve.  
neck cut down from upper edge.  
stopper in rough shape.  
stopper with outline in progress.  
completed scent-bottle.


©Elsa Peretti Tiffany&Co.
(courtesy The British Museum)





6 comments:

  1. this is just gorgeous! like a fairy tale. love Elsa!!! Pat

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  2. This bottle is pure perfection. Love it!

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  3. liliana tavellaDecember 16, 2010

    bellissimo post con i passaggi della lavorazione. bravi

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  4. how great! saw it at Brit Museum!

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  5. I am lucky enough to have acquired one of the signed and numbered originals. It is spectacular to hold.

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  6. Whether you call it perfume or parfume, when you purchase a fragrance with a high concentration of essential oils, you don't have to reapply it as often, so it lasts much longer. Parfum pas cher

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