As the Black Death rages, a wealthy Jewish family hurriedly buries a cache of treasures. They know they are about to be expelled from their town in Germany - the townspeople blame them and other Jews for the Plague.
They hope to return to their treasure trove, but never do.
Nearly 650 years later, the family's treasure is discovered. Among the beautifully crafted items is a gold perfume bottle, designed to hang at a woman's waist. The bottle still contains a small wad of cotton. In the family's time it would've been saturated with scent.
Does the cotton retain any of the perfume's aroma after 650 years? Is there a lingering whiff of the Middle Ages to be snuffled?
Perfume-loving correspondent Maev Kennedy noses around for the answer in this video of the Black Death exhibition at The Wallace Collection, London, posted by The Guardian, UK. What she gets to do would make any perfume lover jealous. Such a cool assignment! Check it out.
Be wonderful if you could buy a perfume which scent lasts for even a week when applied, let alone 650 years.
Posted by: Jessica | February 16, 2009 at 04:34 AM
Great story! I wonder what the original scent was like...
Posted by: Kim Golden-Malmgren | February 16, 2009 at 08:22 AM
Thank you for finding and posting such an interesting link! I really enjoyed it. Now I want to visit the exhibition.
Posted by: Rappleyea | February 18, 2009 at 04:53 PM