Muskrat
The term pomander referred fragrance compounds with ingredients such as amber or musk ( " musk ") and the portable, usually approximately spherical receptacle in which they were kept. Muskrat apples were used for medicinal purposes well into the 17th century and were often used as jewelry at the same time.
Terms
The term “muskrat” appeared in German literature around 1500; previously the terms pomum ambrae or pomum odiferum were often used . This meant not only the housing, but also the much more expensive fragrance inside. Because of the high resin content, some muskrats became so hard that they didn't need a container and could be worn directly around the neck on a chain.
It is unclear whether “pomum ambrae” always meant the unity of fragrance and container. For the first time in his book of herbs , Adam Lonitzer clearly referred to the muskrat as a container in which a sponge soaked with speedwell water should be kept to protect against “bad smells” .
Other names for the pomander include Bisamkopf , Bisamknopf , balsam apple , Ambraapfel , Bisambüchse , Pisambüchse , musk ball , Desmerapfel , Desmerknopf , Pomander , smelling apple and Oldanokapsel. Wentzel only refers to the hinged variant of the muskrat as pomander , spice box or spice box .
Origins and Uses
Early perfume containers
Fragrances and fragrance containers have been detectable for thousands of years. These include grave goods, oriental balsamias from the early days, Egyptian alabaster pots and other vessels. Pliny the Elder wrote about the perfumes of the kings of the Parthians and mentioned that they could either be applied as an ointment or carried on the body in scented pouches.
Giovanni da Procida reported that the king of Tire sent Alexander the Great not only gold, silver, precious stones and other valuables, but also a hundred scented apples as a tribute.
In China, noble ladies and gentlemen from the aristocracy surrounded themselves with a cloud of scent; for this purpose scented balls were used. From the Tang dynasty (7th century – 1st half 8th century) a decorated scent ball made of silver has come down to us. Inside the two halves, which are held together by a hinge, there is a small gold bowl, which - similar to heat balls - is held in a horizontal position by a cardanic suspension . Such scented balls were either hung on stands or carried on the robe. Several similar fragrance containers from Japan are known from the same period.
The origin of the European muskrat is in the Orient; This assumption is also supported by the fact that some muskrats were described as “à la façon de Damaz ”. Its oriental forerunner was " Sukk ", a drug made from the basic substance called "Ramik". Recipes for Ramik often called dried fruits, pounded with honey in a mortar. The resulting mass was dried and stored in the form of plates, lozenges or balls. Together with various fragrances, the sukk resulted. Instructions for making the sukk came from Ibn Amran, who lived in the 9th century. Chains made from Sukk balls could not only be used for medicines, but also as necklaces.
The Arab-Sicilian poet Ibn Hamdis wrote that during a feast of a Tunisian prince who ruled in the early 12th century, the guests played with a scented ball, which they rolled over the silk carpets.
Remedies in the Middle Ages
There were cultural encounters with the Orient during the Crusades ; this is how fragrances came to Europe. Muskrat apples were first mentioned in European culture in 1174, when the ambassadors of Baldwin IV presented Frederick I with golden apples filled with musk.
The medical teacher Johannes de Sancto Paulo († 1214/15), who came from Salerno , prescribed an amber apple in one of his medical works to treat head problems. A very similar recipe was mentioned by Petrus Hispanus in his Thesaurus pauperum about half a century later .
The olfactory apple was a universal remedy, the desired effect of which was inextricably linked with the fragrance. Medical texts of the 14th century prescribed it for digestive problems, to strengthen the "membrorum principalium" (which probably meant male potency) and for complications in the uterine area. In addition, the olfactory apple should strengthen the body's defenses, as its scent expelled the demons and the vapors rising from the ground and thus strengthened the heart.
Poor as well as rich people could carry a scented apple with them. It could also contain cheap herbs and be wrapped in silk, carried in perforated wooden boxes, or kept in precious metal containers. Depending on the indication, you could hold it on the neck, nose or face, carry it in your hands or put it on your pulse.
Plague epidemics
During the plague pandemic of the 14th century and also during later epidemics, muskrats were particularly widespread. According to the doctrine, polluted air promotes infection with diseases, so that one must counteract this by smoking with fragrances or using the olfactory apple.
The authors of plague writings often orientated themselves on Arab authors and referred to Avicenna . An anonymous author from German-speaking countries recommended using scented sponges and cloths and holding an amber apple in your hand to protect against infection. In his 1348 treatise on "morbus nunc dominans", the princely personal physician Cardo advised the use of fragrances in three forms: as a moistened sponge, as a powder or as a smelling apple. In accordance with the theory of temperament , the doctor had to prescribe remedies tailored to the climate and nature of the patient. Nicolaus von Udine gave two different recipes for smelling apples for summer and winter.
Jean d'Outremeuse reports that "Jehan de Bourgoigne, dit à la Barbe" (who, according to him, was Jehan de Mandeville ), worked as an astrologer and doctor in Liege. There he prescribed musk and ambergris to the rich as a remedy against the plague, and cloves and nutmeg to the poor and recommended that they hold amber apples or other fragrances in their hands. Numerous authors recommended amber apples only to the rich, and it was often felt that labdanum would be enough for the poor . An author who was the prior of the Charterhouse near Rostock and in 1392 the rector of the University of Prague recommended various apples with different musk content, tailored to the rich, the middle class and the poor. Ordinary people had little opportunity to use fragrant fragrances to ward off disease; some followed the method recommended by Paracelsus , but controversial, of smelling feces.
In contrast, only the best fragrances were prescribed for popes, kings and emperors. The medical faculty in Paris wrote at the request of Philip VI. an expert opinion that the king and queen recommended the purest ambergris, as this shows the best effect and not only has a beneficial and soothing effect, but also makes all organs more resistant and awakens the spirits.
An author of the late 14th century was disappointed with his overly effeminate contemporaries, who would no longer appreciate the olfactory apple as much as their ancestors did. A Florentine doctor suggested different olfactory apple recipes for cold and warm days in his council written in 1382, which, with God's help, would protect you from the plague.
At the beginning of the 15th century, Johannes Jacobi warned against using the amber apple, as it was harmful to the heart. This was contradicted by an unknown scribe who, as a beggar, had often been in the fresh air and still survived the plague. From his own experience, he can only recommend the muskrat as a preventive measure. A medical composite manuscript from the 15th century containing nine recipes for amber apples by various authors - including well-known doctors from Northern Italy - proves that scented apples were widespread in the 15th century.
Although the muskrat mostly had a medical purpose, it was also used as jewelry at the same time - especially from the 15th century, when wearing decorative objects became fashionable among the bourgeoisie. There is no doubt that scented apples were also worn to hide unpleasant body odors. Occasionally, muskrats were also mentioned in cosmetics books. Girolamo Ruscelli (1500–1566) recommended a fragrance composition that could be used in many ways - to perfume your own body, it should be shaped into a ball and carried in a muskrat.
16.-18. century
Muskrat apples were also very popular in the 16th century. A pharmacopoeia by Walther Hermann Ryff (around 1500-1548) deals with them in great detail and gives five recipes, which, however, do not show any particularly great differences. In 1577 Tabernaemontanus recommended that the wealthy sew fragrant fragrances into bags to ward off the plague. These can then be put in the beds or worn under the clothes and in the "biscuit bags".
In his recipes for muskrat, Tabernaemontanus not only differentiated between summery and cold weather, but also between different temperaments - for example, in the event that “it is in summer and the person is heated in nature” . He also provided precise manufacturing instructions for muskrat apples: After the mortar and pestle have been heated and the resins have been made viscous with a little rose water, the ingredients should be added and the mixture should be shaped as desired. Then make small holes in the mass with a pointed object and fill them with musk and ambergris. The olfactory apple was wrapped in silk to maintain its freshness.
Theodor Zwinger recommended to his doctor colleagues not to visit sick people until half an hour after sunrise and to take with them “a wooden, perforated button filled with diamonds, juniper berries and angelica sausages or a fresh lemon and bitter cakes” and smell them often.
There are few recipes for muskrat in pharmacopoeias of the 17th and 18th centuries. Under the heading In front of your noses, if you want to go out, you should stop and smell on it , a doctor's prescription appeared in the 17th century, which recommended herbs and fragrances that could be easily collected by ordinary people every day of the week. A “Pomander” was mentioned only for Saturday and a “Thiesemknöpflein” was mentioned for Sunday and Monday.
Further recipes can be found in the “Praelectiones” of the Dispensatorium regium et electorale Borusso-Brandenburgicum . A recorded there scent Apple was one of the most expensive drugs, since it has three guilders per ounce should cost (compared to the expensive cost also Bibergeil only a florin).
The Frankfurt city doctor Johann Schröder gave several recipes for muskrat in his pharmacopoeia, which appeared in several editions; one described in 1669 should influence the " juices ". He advised against use during plague epidemics:
"As far as the use in Pestilenzischer Lufft is concerned, it is to be known that the mumial evil ferment is then suppressed by the things that smell like, because the thing that comes under lovely things is much more likely to enter the air of life and cause death [...]"
A recipe for an amber apple published by Henricus Madathanus in 1631 was praised by Zedler's Grosses Universallexikon with the words that it was
"[...] a very particularly fragrant remedy, which in cold headache and dizziness, in falling addiction and lash, in poisonous and contagious air, colic pain and suffocation of the womb, in maternal episodes and other similar diseases, especially where no internal medicinals can are taught to be held under the nose or to other limbs of the body, and such forms the heart and the spirits of life immensely to strengthen and refresh. "
Since the late 16th century, muskrat has been increasingly replaced by the less expensive liquid essences that were kept in a bottle called a vinaigrette . But even in the 18th century the separation between perfume and remedies had not yet taken place. This is evidenced by the fact that the “ plague vinegar ”, which originated in France in 1720 and allegedly made people immune to the plague, quickly spread throughout Europe. From this point on, vinaigrettes finally displaced the olfactory apples.
variants
Shapes and decorations
In the case of muskrats, great importance was often attached to a beautiful design. Most were made of gold or silver; Copper or other base metals were only used sporadically - so such noble containers were only reserved for the rich.
Muskrat apples vary in diameter from 2 to 8 cm. The shape could be extremely diverse and ranged from pomegranates (“en façon de Grenade”), rosary beads , betnuts or reliquary- shaped pendants to entire chains. Not only round, but also pear, heart or stone nut-like shapes were found. Many specimens had ornamental openings and were set with precious stones, pearls or corals, which were also expected to have magical effects. Some containers were made of fine-meshed filigree weave, and niello and enamel works were also made. But there are also some quite simply designed fragrance containers known, the holes of which are arranged like tea balls like a sieve.
In the 15th century, the “ minor masters ” created their own professional group that made jewelry designs for gold and silversmiths. Among them were Martin Schongauer and Wenzel Hollar , who also designed muskrat apples.
Muskrat apples can be roughly dated, among other things, by comparing them with paintings. Often in contemporary portraits muskrats are held on rosaries or - as a symbol of worldly power - in hand. From 1500 to 1525, hunched muskrat apples were particularly popular. From the 15th to the middle of the 17th century, muskrat apples made of wires bent like petals were often worn.
A tassel or chain was attached to some muskrat apples. Doges wore eight to ten muskrats on their precious robes. Sometimes scented apples were wrapped in beautiful, mostly red silk scarves. This color had historical reasons: in the past, red clothes were thought to be warmer and were recommended for rheumatism; later this benefit was transferred to other areas of medicine. In the 15th century, so-called “coussins” came into fashion among nobles. These were cloth bags and pillows in which both powdered scent mixtures and amber apples could be carried.
Particularly ostentatious muskrats were mentioned in the inventories of monarchs and church dignitaries. An example of this is a gold muskrat, presented to Margaret of Austria in 1499 , which was adorned with a ribbon set with six diamonds and six rubies and housed a rose with five other diamonds. Some nobles had entire collections of scented apples; for example, in 1484 Siegmund von Tirol bought 27 pieces from a peddler. The first exact descriptions of muskrat can be found in the Burgundian treasury inventories of the 14th century.
Today, there are only a few muskrats left in museums or private collections. In her standard work on the subject, Smollich briefly introduces over 70 specimens, most of which come from English and German museums. Schmitz mentions a private collection comprising almost 150 objects.
Fragrances
Each of the ingredients listed below was found in most muskrat recipes: styrax , rose petals, labdanum, musk, nutmeg , ambergris and cloves (in descending order of frequency). But many other herbs, spices, flowers, peels, fruits, resins and fragrance woods were mentioned. On average, a recipe used eleven ingredients.
Over the centuries, the ingredients of muskrats have hardly changed, which was due to the already detailed production instructions and the high reputation of the authors of previous literature. Pliny the Elder already mentioned many ingredients that were also used in later recipes for olfactory apples. Such substances were also popular in the Orient. Yuhanna ibn Masawaih, for example, named five "primary" fragrances (amber, camphor, aloe wood, musk and saffron) in his writing Simple Aromatic Substances , all of which except for saffron were often mentioned in recipes for muskrat.
A specialty of English recipes was the use of black garden soil as an ingredient. In the play Lingua: or, The Combat of the Tongue (1607) by an unknown author, it ironically says:
- “Your only way to make a good pomander is this: —Take an ounce of the purest garden mold, cleansed and steeped seven days in change of motherless rosewater; then take the best ladanum, benzoine, both storaxes, ambergris, civet, and musk: incorporate them together, and work them into what form you please. This, if your breath be not too valiant, will make you smell as sweet as my lady's dog. "
Sectioned muskrats
In order to do justice to the variety of fragrance recipes, special forms of muskrat had divisions that could be folded out using hinges and their contents exchanged. This special shape of the muskrat usually consists of four, six or eight segments, some of which have sliding lids.
Often the name of the fragrance contained therein was engraved on the segments. Here frequently was also whipped balm called, which was used in stroke, cramps and fainting.
Vanitas symbols
The depictions of vanitas , popular since the beginning of the 16th century , which showed the transience of life and called for a godly way of life, can also be found in muskrat apples. Quite a few pieces are made in the shape of a skull. The artistic attention to detail ranges from simple to anatomically exact skull representations. One of the traditional objects depicts the head of a girl on one side and a skull on the other.
An inventory from 1635 mentions a prayer chain made of amber balls with a skull. A particularly elaborate specimen houses a colored miniature inside the skull showing Christ with outstretched arms. The lower part of the skull represents the flaming purgatory.
Rosaries
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Bartholomäus Bruyn : Portrait of a Woman with a Rosary (around 1547) |
Some of the rosaries had a muskrat. Rich people probably hoped, through such signs of Christian humility, to be able to evade the charge of arrogance, but at the same time to enjoy status symbols and healing jewelry.
Muskrat apples could either hang down from the rosary or be connected to the wreath on both sides as a so-called "hook". They were very often used as "paternoster signs" (final marking), occasionally they were inserted between two sets of ten pearls each. Fragrance containers incorporated in this way were not necessarily spherical - Joos van Cleve's portrait of a woman from 1525 shows a rosary with a muskrat in the shape of a pointed oval. The portrait of the Virgin and Child by the master of Alkmaar from the middle of the 15th century shows a muskrat hanging from a rosary, which could also be attached as a hanger by means of an unused second loop.
In a pilgrimage book with the title Wolriechender Marianischer Quitten-Apfel (1702), Regineberto Schuel justified the presence of muskrat apples on rosaries, especially since Augustine of Hippo in his Confessions did not condemn fragrances as the only form of earthly, sensual enjoyment.
Special forms
Heat globe and muskrat combinations have been reported. In this case, the heat also increased the scent development.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Peter Henlein built small clocks into muskrat apples. According to the Nuremberg city files, in 1524 he received 15 fl. For a "gouled pysn apple for all things with an oraiology" . Several muskrat clocks from Peter Henlein's time have been preserved (see also web links).
In the inventory of the Pomeranian Art Cabinet from 1611 to 1615, its client Philipp Hainhofer mentions a pipe, in the lower part of which there is a spherical container with a muskrat wrapped in red silk. Another object, described as a “double muskrat button”, was a screw-on cylindrical container with two hemispherical, ornamentally perforated lids, which contained fragrant red and reddish-brown pastes.
Muskrat apples in the form of small cans, toads, snails, sheep and real apples have also survived. One specimen with subdivisions had a stand that also served as a seal stamp. A six-part manicure set hangs on another preserved object.
literature
- Heiner Meininghaus, Christa Habrich : Fragrances and noble bottles . Arnoldsche, 1998, ISBN 3-925369-82-1
- Heiner Meininghaus: Nutmeg graters and pomander for fine spices . In: Weltkunst 17th Volume No. 14, Nov. 15, 2001
- Ruth-E. Mohrmann : Between amulet and talisman. Muskrat as a trademark. In: symbols of everyday life. 1992, pp. 497-516.
- Eugen von Philippovich: Muskrat apples. In: Curiosities / Antiques. Pp. 264-266. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig 1966
- Eric C. Rodenberg: Intricate pomander clock may be first pocket watch. In: Antique Week. The Weekly Antique Auction & Collecting Newspapers. Volume 46, No. 2326, 2014, pp. 1-3.
- Rudolf Schmitz: The pomander. In: Pharmacy in History. 31.1989, 2, pp. 86-90. ISSN 0031-7047
- Renate Smollich: The muskrat in art and science. (= Sources and studies on the history of pharmacy. 21) Deutscher Apotheker Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-7692-0733-5 .
- Hans Wentzel : Muskrat . In: Real Lexicon on German Art History. Vol. II. Central Institute for Art History, Stuttgart / Waldsee 1948, Sp. 770–774.
Web links
- Pictures of more muskrat apples ( memento from October 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- A muskrat in the Lüneburg Museum
- A muskrat auctioned by the Dorotheum auction house
- Muskrat clocks from the Henlein period
Individual evidence
- ^ Stralsund Museum: With the muskrat against body odor in: North German Latest News from February 9, 2019.
- ↑ Muskrat balls, muskrat buttons, amber apples. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 3, Leipzig 1733, column 1933 f.
- ^ Ernst Bassermann-Jordan : A muskrat apple from Peter Henlein's time. In: The watchmaker week. 1924, No. 24, pp. 301 f .; and a second muskrat apple from Peter Henlein's time. In: The watchmaker week. 1924, No. 44, p. 627 f.
