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Trèfle Incarnat
perfume by L.T. Piver |
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Trèfle Incarnat bottle, seen from bottom. Notice that the bottle reads "L.T. Piver, Paris" rather than "L.T. Piver, France". |
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L.T. Piver's paper stamp affixed to this bottle of Trèfle Incarnat. |
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Unknown stamp affixed to this bottle of Trèfle Incarnat perfume by L.T. Piver |
Le Trèfle Incarnat, created by perfumers Jacques Rouchè and Pierre Aremingeat, made use a newly synthesized aroma chemical, amyl salicylate. It was this use of aroma chemicals that began to pull perfumery out of the 19th century floral phase and bring it into the golden age of perfumery — the first five decades of the 20th century.
Amyl salicylate was a creation of chemist Georges Darzens who worked with Piver in order to put his discoveries to use. In fact, it is said that Treèfle Incarnat was developed under professor Drazen's supervision at l'Ecole polytechnique.
Trèfle Incarnat ("trèfle" is French for clover; "trèfle incarnat" is French for a particular variety of clover, the trifolium incarnatum) was blended from both the new iso amyl salicylate and iso eugenol with possibly a touch of natural clover tossed into the pot. The exact date of creation is somewhat in doubt but the 1896 appears to be reasonable.
Trèfle Incarnat was distributed to Piver's international market which included, in addition to France and the rest of Europe, the United States and Japan. Advertising for Trèfle Incarnat can be found in La Illustratión Españole as early as 1899. An existing page from the Atlantic Constitution from February, 1909, shows that Trèfle Incarnat, along with other Piver products, was being sold in that city.
It is believe that Piver continued to sell Trèfle Incarnat into the 1920's.
Some bottles were distributed with a glass stopper in the shape of a four leaf clover, although the illustration on the bottle's label continued to show a three-leaf clover — the anatomically correct trèfle incarnat.
Of Le Trèfle Incarnat, perfumer Ernest Beaux comments, "We now saw a perfume emerge from banality, the Trèfle Incarnat of Piver, based on amyl salicylate."
Trifolium incarnatum
(trèfle incarnat) |
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