Papyrus de Ciane (2010) Pierre Guillaume and What’s In A Name

 

According to my correspondance with Pierre Guillaume,  (the self- proclaimed "chemist"  behind some of the most evocative and finely crafted fragrances I love),  Papyrus de Ciane, " is not just a "Top+Heart" green note. It's a green scent completely embodied, with a complete course in the green galaxy. Papyrus is built like a green story, not only like cut grass. The Ciane river is the biggest natural wildlife park in Europe for papyrus. Broom is also a specific vegetal from this area: papyrus & broom are 2 key notes of the scent."

 So here we have  PG fragrance No.24…

 Yet all of Pierre's fragrances evoke ideas and stories and fulfills his desire to capture a corresponding emotion or state of mind  in his art.

I wanted more. So  I will tell you my story of Papyrus and Ciane.  It does not have a happy ending.

Papyrus was brought to Southern Sicily from Egypt in 250 BC, a present from King Ptolemy to Hiero II, ruler of Syracuse. Hiero had established regular contacts with Alexandria, where a sizeable Syracusan community built up, employed in trade and in the arts and sciences (Archimedes studied mathematics in Alexandria in this period before returning to Syracuse to produce his major work).

The  Papyrus was planted in a grove, along The Ciane River, that in ancient times was a sacred place.  According to legend, it was here that the goddess of Spring, Persephone, the daughter of  Demeter, was abducted by Hades the god of  the underworld.  Persephone's  best friend  a water nymph named Ciane  tried to save her and could not;  she was heartbroken and melted into a  river out of tearful despair for her friend's fate.

Sicily was much greener in ancient times than it is today. Papyrus and Ciane evokes  the scent of a green primeval sacred  place, where vast coniferous forests teemed with flora and fauna now long extinct…

I am reminded of the possible fate of our cherished oakmoss. Should these regualtion continue to tighten, what of our tears ?

-Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


3 comments

  • Kathryn says:

    I loved Michel Roudnitska’s brilliant analysis of ethical perfumes. This post continues in that vein: Perhaps for a perfume to be art, it must not only be ethical but also tell a story.

    The story you weave for Papyrus de Ciane certainly suggests that may be the case. I have tested only a small sample of PdC, but it did evoke a feeling of being suspended between two worlds, the leafy greenness of spring with a darker, mossy undercurrent of winter.

    Bravo for your new blog, Michelyn!

  • Michelyn says:

    Kathryn, you have always encourgaed me… xo to a true friend and a friend in fragrance.

  • rosaflamenca says:

    Tears, indeed. Oakmoss is a fragrance note that is rooted in the ancestral memory of many of us. Generations of people have lived in oak forests and burned logs that had shreds of oakmoss clinging to the bark. It’s a scent that bridges the elements of air and earth. I cannot imagine being without it. Luckily, I live in oak woods, but I also covet my little bottle of oakmoss absolute. I look forward to sampling the Papyrus de Ciane, which recalls the extinction of something ineffably beautiful.