Not only for Queen’s

Take home this limited edition fragrance, one out of only five, recreated by master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian and bottled in a 2.5oz 24k gold engraved crystal flacon by Maison Saint Louis! 

The ultimate gift: this limited edition Queen Marie Antoinette fragrance, created by Francis Kurkdjian, and bottled in a handmade crystal flacon with 24k gold by Maison Saint-Louis.

Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian may hail from an Armenian family from Aleppo but everything else about him is resolutely French. Paris is where he started in the business, creating some of the most beautiful and successful perfumes for major designers, it’s also where he co-founded the esteemed Maison Francis Kurkdjian, to create some rare beauties under is own name…

History is one of my passions since I was a child. It is also a great source of inspiration in life in general. It all began in 2003 when I met the historian, Elisabeth de Feydeau. She was written a biography about one of Marie Antoinette’s perfumers, Jean-Louis Fargeon. I have re-created the scent of the queen from his original formulas. The Queen of France had an inimitable style and liked large floral scents.

This fragrance, Sillage de la Reine, has been recreated from an original formula by Jean Louis Fargeon, the Queen’s perfumer, at the end of the 18th century. Francis Kurkdjian has composed a pure perfume made entirely of natural ingredients around an accord of roses from Bulgaria, iris from Florence, and jasmine and tuberoses flowers from India and Egypt. This floral bouquet is modulated by subtle touches of cedar wood and sandal wood, enhanced by gray amber and surrounded by musk.

Francis had a particular obsession with replicating a fragrance worn by Marie Antoinette. Sillage de la Reine featured amber essence of jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, iris, cedar and sandalwood. It retailed for $900 — or $11,000 for this one in a Baccarat bottle.

One bottle was donated by Francis Kurkdjian for ‘Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth’. Wished I could smell this fragrance!