Upon a paper attached to the Narrative

Original illustrations of the mammalian eye by George Lindsay Johnson and Arthur William Head. 1901

Different bear eyes painted in watercolor by a scientist.

Vintage perfume vessels & fragrance bottles from history and across civilizations.

For thousands of years, humanity has shaped the materials around the fragrant essences of herbal plants to keep them contained. In ancient workshops, they kneaded and fired clay. Potters in Greece and Rhodes molded terracotta into the shapes of owls, frogs, and lion heads. Along the Mediterranean's southern shores, Egyptian artisans crafted faience perfume bottles shaped like hedgehogs. In the 13th century BC, Nefertari's ointments were kept in round boxes with wood details.

During the Roman era, glassmaking changed production methods. Artisans blew molten sand over a fire to design vials shaped like fish and dates. They engraved delicate white figures onto blue glass. In a Pompeii mural, we see a woman carefully pouring liquid from one of these slender bottles. Over time, perfume vessels weren't just tabletop objects anymore. In 18th-century Europe, they were attached directly to clothing. English and German craftsmen worked silver and gold into flasks shaped like hearts, daggers, and skulls. Women tied them to their waists with metal chains.

trans women who worked as cabaret performers in 1950s Paris, France

By Irina Ionesco Scanned from ‘How to photograph women’ by Dixons

Backdrops Circa 1940’s, 1998, Lorna Simpson