The Making of Lotus Perfume
On this finely carved slab, five elegant women attend to a fragrant art: the pressing of lotus blossoms. Three clasp the long-stemmed flowers in hand, while two twist bulging sacks filled with petals, coaxing forth the nectar which drips into the vessel below. At first glance it is an image of industry, yet beneath lies an entire world of symbolism and perfume alchemy.
The lotus was no ordinary bloom. Two varieties flourished upon Egypt’s waterways: the deep-blue Nymphaea Caerulea, that spread its heavenly petals upon the canals and ponds of temple gardens, and the White Nymphaea lotus, which opened quietly at dusk. To the Egyptian mind, the flower’s habit of closing at night and unfolding with the dawn rendered it a living emblem of rebirth, the daily journey of the sun, and the eternal cycle of death and renewal. It was therefore at once both adornment and talisman, beauty and sacred mystery. Its scent, sweet and heady, was thought to lull and intoxicate, while its petals, when pressed, could yield both narcotic infusions and precious oils.
Egypt supplied the ancient world with its most coveted scents. Among them were Susinum, rich with lily, myrrh and cinnamon; Cyprinum, redolent of henna, cardamom and southernwood; and the celebrated Mendesian, a heady blend of myrrh, cassia, and resins. Yet always, the lotus was held supreme, beloved of Nefertum
The Egyptians adored fragrance, regarding it as the very breath of the gods. To wear perfume was not mere vanity, but a means of aligning oneself with the divine. Salves of oil and blossom adorned the skin, softened the body, and uplifted the spirit. The temples themselves were alive with the art of perfumery, where recipes were inscribed upon walls and repeated in ritual: oils of myrrh, cinnamon, cardamom, and henna mingled with the sacred lotus to produce the world-renowned scents of Egypt. Among them were Susinum, a lily-based perfume enriched with myrrh; Cyprinum, drawn from henna and spice; and Mendesian, an aromatic blend of myrrh, cassia, and gums.
No flower was so deeply entwined with creation itself as the lotus. In myth, the youthful god Nefertum; lord of perfume, healing, and renewal, arose as a lotus bud from the primeval waters at the dawn of time. From this blossom the infant sun was born, beginning the eternal cycle of day and night. In later tales, Nefertum offered bouquets of lotuses to the aged sun god Re, soothing his pains with fragrance and restoring his vigour.
This slab, therefore, is no mere record of labour. It captures a sacred craft, in which beauty, ritual, and myth flowed together like the pressed juices of the lotus: fragrance made visible in stone, a perfumed hymn to rebirth.
Late Period, ca. 664-332 BC. Limestone, dimensions: 68 cm x 31.5 cm x 6 cm. Now in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. Cat. 1673
