Pomander

Pomander in the Shape of a Ship

Locket Pendant, Possibly a Pomander, in Shape of Shell with Animal-Headed Cap Flanked by a Small Bird on Sides

Portrait of a Woman with a Pomander

Toothpick/Pomander

Monkey Pomander

Scent Bottle

Scent bottle

Handkerchief

Kerchief

Zakdoek van kloskant met rechte en gebogen lijnen

Zakdoek met een rand van gemengde kant met gearceerde rocailles

holder, posy

Nosegay

Valentine - Mechanical nosegay (tussy mussy)

Portret van een onbekend vrouw met een ruiker in de hand

For centuries before germ theory, miasma theory1 was the dominant explanation for contagion. Greek for pollution, a miasma was a noxious vapor rising from rot, refuse, swamps, sewage, the dead. Foul odor was evidence of corrupted air, and corrupted air caused illness. A stench was a potentially lethal assailant. The intuition was not entirely wrong. As we well know, some pathogens do travel through air. From the medieval period until germ theory displaced miasma in the late nineteenth century, Europeans believed, quite literally, that a pleasant scent could neutralize whatever threat air carried. Regardless of the validity of that belief, the fact remained that masking a foul odor created distance from a fetid source, a remove from filth and corruption, however psychological or symbolic. A sense of having some control was likely a relief itself. The objects in this collection functioned as interfaces between the self and the atmosphere. A seventeenth-century silver pomander takes the form of a skull; its cranium hinges open onto six lettered compartments for aromatics like cinnamon and clove. It was a memento mori that was simultaneously a death ward. A gold pomander shaped as a ship would contain ambergris, musk, and spices that ships would carry. Precious cargo worth wrapping in gold. A rock crystal pomander displays its aromatics through polished stone, its gold mounts wrapped in enameled snakes, symbols of healing coiled around the cure. A miniature, 1840, Dutch, pail-shaped, silver pomander with a pierced lid was carried to church against close air and long sermons. By then, the fear had faded, but the habit endured because a scented accessory was after all a pleasant thing to have. There are many ways in which these practices bore socio-economic legibility. The materials and refinement of a portable scent disclosed its user's class. The wealthy carried civet in engraved silver; the less privileged pressed a handkerchief dosed with scented vinegar to the face or held common herbs in a small bouquet known as a nosegay. This practice evolved and expanded. A silver filigree holder turned a handful of simple herbs and flowers into fancy jewelry that could carry a message.2 Venetian-style glass scent bottles mounted in pewter provided the desired function along with the look of luxury at a lower price. The aromatics themselves were products of global trade, tying private comfort to extraction and empire. A Mughal crystal vial sprinkled an attar of roses from a perforated lid. At court, perfume was refinement and hospitality, offered to others rather than clutched against them. The fragrance was for everyone in the room, not the nose of a single individual. Europe eventually came around to this understanding. Germ theory ended miasma, but not the reflex beneath it. We still buy the smell of lemon and pine as proof of a clean house. We still smell something pleasant and call it healthy. Even when scent does nothing, it does something. These objects can be thought of as the ancestors to the intuition behind a massive and enduring multicultural phenomenon. ——— 1. "Miasma Theory." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory. Accessed on April 1, 2026.2. "Nosegay." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosegay#tussy-mussy. Accessed on April 4, 2026.

Miasma and its Objects

Miasma and its Objects

About this Collection

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