This elaborate tray and matching box with four scent vials epitomize the refined material culture and exquisite enameling of Lucknow fashionable around the end of the 18th century. The tray and exterior of the box are enameled silver. Enticingly, the interior of the box and the exterior of its scent vials have been upgraded from a silver to a gilded silver ground, evoking a literally richer aesthetic experience when the box is opened. Upright floral sprays festooned around the edge of the tray follow an apparent metalware convention for symbolizing an object’s function as a container for rose water or other perfumes.
The Lucknow-style design program consists principally of translucent dark blue, aubergine, and green enamels depicting flowering vines and plants, especially rosettes and lilies, with perching birds interposed amongst the lush vegetation. More generic decorative elements include an trellis pattern on the lid and a diaper pattern of translucent green enameled lotus leaves on the scent vials.
Along with betel leaf quids, rose water and other fragrances have long been the customary amenity offered to honored guests in South Asia. Lucknow’s nobility, harem, and refined courtesans were especially renowned for their conspicuous use of myriad perfumes. This olfactory preference was frequently noted by European visitors to Lucknow, such as by Fanny Parks (1794–1875) when she roomed in the harem of King Nasir al-Din Haidar (r. 1827–37).
Lucknow was well-situated geographically and culturally to partake of both the Hindu and Islamic traditions of sophisticated perfumery. Located roughly between the ancient but continuous Hindu production center of Kannauj and the contemporaneous Muslim production center of Ghazipur, the Lucknow courts and elite community had ready access to the aromatics long described in various texts. By the turn of the 19th century, colonial European accounts documented the manufacturing techniques of rose water, attar of roses, and other perfumes.
