A passion for antique objects
Thanks to his uncle, who had very early on set about sharing with him his knowledge of art history, Jean-François Costa, the father of the current female directors, remained passionate all his life about antique objects. Museum visits, travels, reading, discussions with experts, curators, historians or simply enthusiasts, shaped his taste for antiques and more particularly for the French 18th century.
A pioneer in the field, Jean-François Costa began his collection of perfumery art objects in the 1950s, at a time when perfume did not arouse the curiosity it does today. Initially driven by professional interest, he quickly became a key collector, building a collection unique in the world both for the quality of the pieces and for their number and diversity: distillation apparatus, and art objects ranging from antiquity to the mid-20th century.
Trained by their father and equally passionate, Agnès and Françoise carry on his work and continue to enrich the museum's collections very regularly with new acquisitions.
Antiquity
ARYBALLISTIC LEKYTHOS
Your Content Goes HereARYBALLISTIC LEKYTHOS
This lekythos is a vessel that contained oils, sometimes perfumed, dedicated to funerary offerings. Here, the god Eros guides souls and helps the passage to the afterlife, a role assumed by a rabbit.
4th century BC.
Greece, Apulian workshop
Orange terracotta with black glaze
JANIFORM FLASK
Your Content Goes HereJANIFORM FLASK
Janus is a Roman god, the god of gates and passages. Since a doorway is the entrance to another place, or to another time, he is therefore also the god of the dawn and of beginnings. This type of flask was often dedicated to perfumes.
Around the 2nd century
Imperial Roman Art, Near East
Moulded glass
GLOBULAR ARYBALLOS WITH LOTUS FLOWER DECORATION
Your Content Goes HereGLOBULAR ARYBALLOS WITH LOTUS FLOWER DECORATION
The aryballos is a form of small globular flask, topped with a wide, flattened section used for spreading perfumes in Greek civilisation. This one is unusual, originating from an emporion, or trading port, established in Egypt.
6th century BC.
Egypt, Nile Delta, Naucratis workshop
Green earthenware
ARYBALLISTIC LEKYTHOS
Your Content Goes HereARYBALLISTIC LEKYTHOS
4th century BC.
Greece, Apulian workshop
Orange terracotta with black glaze
JANIFORM FLASK
Your Content Goes HereJANIFORM FLASK
Around the 2nd century
Imperial Roman Art, Near East
Moulded glass
GLOBULAR ARYBALLOS WITH LOTUS FLOWER DECORATION
Your Content Goes HereGLOBULAR ARYBALLOS WITH LOTUS FLOWER DECORATION
6th century BC.
Egypt, Nile Delta, Naucratis workshop
Green earthenware
Pomander
EIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereEIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
The pomander is an apple-shaped ball composed of odoriferous products such as ambergris, civet or musk. This silver-gilt and silver pomander rests on a screwed flat circular foot, the body shaped like a pomegranate and applied with eight small figures, opening into eight compartments, each with a sliding lid engraved with a perfume name: tuberose, benzoin, pastille, amber, jonquil, musk, jasmine and civet.
Master goldsmith Denis Mauny or Antoine II Morelot,
around 1680-1683, Dijon
Vermeil and silver
EIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereEIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
The pomander is an apple-shaped ball composed of scented products such as ambergris, civet or musk. From the 14th century onwards, these jewellery-objects, sometimes worn at the waist, were exceptional pieces of goldsmith's work. This segmented pomander is decorated with figures, probably Ottoman, and inside each compartment is inscribed the name of the scent placed within: cinnamon, rosemary, musk, rose...
Late 17th century, Germany
Vermeil and silver
WHISTLE-SHAPED POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereWHISTLE-SHAPED POMANDER
This whistle-shaped pomander contains a part in its base that unscrews, releasing the scents held by a sponge through its pierced section.
18th century
Germany
EIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereEIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Master goldsmith Denis Mauny or Antoine II Morelot,
around 1680-1683, Dijon
Vermeil and silver
EIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereEIGHT-SECTION POMANDER
Late 17th century, Germany
Vermeil and silver
WHISTLE-SHAPED POMANDER
Your Content Goes HereWHISTLE-SHAPED POMANDER
18th century
Germany
LATE 17TH – EARLY 18TH CENTURY FLASKS
PERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LION
PERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LIONPERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LION
In the 17th century, the art of perfume bottles reflected the refinement of the elites: these small containers were as precious as their contents. True objects of art, they combined elegance, goldsmithing expertise and the symbolism of intimate luxury.
Late 17th century, early 18th century
Germany
Vermeil and silver
FLEUR-DE-LYS DECORATED BOTTLE
Your Content Goes HereFLEUR-DE-LYS DECORATED BOTTLE
In the 17th century, the art of perfume bottles reflected the refinement of the elites: these small containers were as precious as their contents. True objects of art, they combined elegance, goldsmithing expertise and the symbolism of intimate luxury.
Atelier Bernard Perrot,
Late 17th century
Orléans
Mould-blown glass, silver
Venetian-style scent bottle
Your Content Goes HereVenetian-style scent bottle
Spun glass paste scent bottles are extremely rare, as this process is particularly technical; the Venetian glass masters of Murano exported this know-how throughout Europe, and particularly to Nevers.
17th century
Nevers or Innsbruck
Polychrome, gilded and filigreed pate de verre
PERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LION
PERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LIONPERFUME BOTTLE WITH THE DECORATION OF A CUPID RIDING A LION
Late 17th century, early 18th century
Germany
Vermeil and silver
FLEUR-DE-LYS DECORATED BOTTLE
Your Content Goes HereFLEUR-DE-LYS DECORATED BOTTLE
Atelier Bernard Perrot,
Late 17th century
Orléans
Mould-blown glass, silver
Venetian-style scent bottle
Your Content Goes HereVenetian-style scent bottle
17th century
Nevers or Innsbruck
Polychrome, gilded and filigreed pate de verre
LOVE SYMBOLS
BIRD-SHAPED FLACON
Your Content Goes HereBIRD-SHAPED FLACON
In the 18th century, English soft-paste porcelain scent bottles, particularly those produced by the Chelsea factory or attributed to the so-called Girl-in-a-Swing series, bear witness to a typically Rococo refinement. Manufactured between the 1750s and 1765, these small containers for perfume or smelling salts often took the form of gallant figures or pastoral scenes in the round. Soft-paste porcelain allowed for delicate modelling and subtle polychrome decoration, often enhanced with gilding. Intended for personal use and dressing-table adornment, these bottles combined olfactory function with the status of luxury objects.
Girl in a swing, manufacture St James (Charles Gouyn)
Around 1750-1754
England
Porcelain, gold, or agate
The Goldfinch Bottle
Your Content Goes HereThe Goldfinch Bottle
This rectangular scent bottle is carved from bloodstone and adorned with a repoussé gold stopper, linked to the neck by a small chain. On the body, a navette-shaped medallion, framed in gold, features a micromosaic depicting a naturalistic goldfinch perched on a branch. This motif, developed by Giacomo Raffaelli and his workshop, is framed by a decoration of white and black smalti bordered with red, following the stylistic codes of the master mosaicist. Crafted in the late 18th or early 19th century, the piece was probably brought back from Italy during a Grand Tour, and subsequently mounted onto a bottle in France or England.
Late 18th to early 19th century
Italy, France
Bloodstone, micromosaic, gold
FLASK DEPICTING LA FONTAINE'S FABLE «THE STORK AND THE FOX»
Your Content Goes HereFLASK DEPICTING LA FONTAINE'S FABLE «THE STORK AND THE FOX»
The mount of this bottle features, at the base and on both sides, two animals: a stork with its beak stuck in a vase stands next to a fox, and a stork watching a fox eat. These are two scenes taken from La Fontaine's Fables, which were in vogue in the mid-18th century. The neck of the bottle is decorated with a dove motif which is repeated on the stopper. The base of the bottle features an oval hardstone that can be used as a seal.
Around 1740-1750
Germany or England
Cornelian, or
BIRD-SHAPED FLACON
Your Content Goes HereBIRD-SHAPED FLACON
Girl in a swing, manufacture St James (Charles Gouyn)
Around 1750-1754
England
Porcelain, gold, or agate
The Goldfinch Bottle
Your Content Goes HereThe Goldfinch Bottle
Late 18th to early 19th century
Italy, France
Bloodstone, micromosaic, gold
FLASK DEPICTING LA FONTAINE'S FABLE «THE STORK AND THE FOX»
Your Content Goes HereFLASK DEPICTING LA FONTAINE'S FABLE «THE STORK AND THE FOX»
Around 1740-1750
Germany or England
Cornelian, or
Objects of vertu
OINTMENT JAR
Your Content Goes HereOINTMENT JAR
These jars contained a scented pomade, a sort of wax or grease used to style and perfume the hair, an essential accessory for the aristocracy.
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Around 1760
France
Porcelain
ESSENTIAL
Your Content Goes HereESSENTIAL
This 18th-century English gold pocket case exemplifies the category of *objets de vertu*: small, luxurious accessories combining technical skill and precious materials, designed as much for practical use as to assert the social status and refinement of their owners. It contains various miniature tools, such as a smelling-salt bottle, scissors, tweezers, an ear spoon, a spatula, and a make-up scraper, intended for personal grooming.
Around 1760-1765
England, London
Or, green lacquer
OINTMENT JAR
Your Content Goes HereOINTMENT JAR
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Around 1760
France
Porcelain
ESSENTIAL
Your Content Goes HereESSENTIAL
Around 1760-1765
England, London
Or, green lacquer