Pomander

Men and women of late-medieval and Renaissance Europe wore pomanders of aromatic substances to eliminate bad odors and prevent infections. The earliest known examples held mixtures of spices, herbs, and blossoms molded into a ball and inserted into simple cases of open metalwork. By the sixteenth century, elaborately decorated containers with separate compartments for individual scents were worn hanging from a girdle or suspended from a long chain around the neck.

This hexagonal pomander has eight hinged compartments that slide open. Inside, each wedge-shaped section is engraved with the name of the substance it was meant to house: ROSE (rose), CEDRO (cedar), GESMINI (jasmine), AMBRA (ambergris), MOSCHETE (musk), VIOLE (violet), NARANSI (orange), and GAROFOLI (clove). The central container is capped by a grotesque figure atop a second hexagonal sphere, which may be removed to fill the pomander. Under the spool-shaped base is an engraved cartouche that once surrounded a heraldic coat of arms.1 Pomanders like this one were worn until the last quarter of the seventeenth century, when they were replaced by small bottles of liquid scents or perforated vessels containing aromatic vinegar.

Yvonne J. Markowitz, “Pomander” in Artful Adornments: Jewelry from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Yvonne J. Markowitz (Boston: MFA Publications, 2011), 130-131.