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Perfume makers and marketers are always a bit at odds with collectors. Collectors want "complete" collections — every bottle in every variety. Marketers, however, particularly creative marketers, are always introducing variations to their original theme — new bottles, new packaging, even variations in the original formula — all in the interests of improving the product, or improving sales, or simply in the interest of making the product more available to a new audience the marketer wishes to reach.
Now that this has been said, we want to confess that we cannot say for certain that the bottle shown here once held Paul Poiret's legendary Nuit de Chine. When we acquired it, we were simply told that it "looks like" (one of) the bottles Poiret used for this exotic perfume. No promises.
This bottle, while beautiful, is relatively simple compared to some of the presentations that were given for Nuit de Chine. Yet herein lies the puzzle. We have seen several presentations for Nuit de Chine and, not surprisingly, each is quite different than the other. It is probably fair to guess that, as Nuit de Chine was on the market for a dozen years or more, at least some Nuit de Chine was sold in relatively simple bottles — such as this one.
As to Nuit de Chine itself, our friend Ocatvian has provided the following information:
Nuit de Chine was created for Paul Poiret's Parfums de Rosine by perfumer Maurice Shaller. Shaller had started with Poiret as a glassmaker but was discovered, by accident it is said, to have a genius for creating perfume. (He was the creator of Revillon's Carnet de Bal.)
Nuit de Chine was originally tagged Nuit d'Orient (recall that Poiret was big into oriental themes!) but it soon took on it's name change. The sandalwood note suggests incense from ancient China; the (original) bottle was said to suggest an opium bottle — something that fashionable people of Poiret's era would have been more than just familiar with.
When introduced, Nuit de Chine was considered quite expensive (which is something considering the wealth of Poiret's clientelle!). But in 1913, Poiret was at the top of his game. Of his clients, he demanded a taste for elegance. Economy was a non-issue.
Octavian and others have suggested that Nuit de Chine was the inspiration for Ernest Beaux's Soir de Paris.
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If you have any information on Nuit de Chine, this particular bottle, Maurice Shaller, Paul Poiret or Parfums de Rosine, please share it with us using the message sender below.
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