Indie line Charenton Macerations has launched Eye, Hatshepsut, a new fragrance inspired by Hatshepsut, the first female pharoah.
Eye, Hatshepsut is an olfactive homage to one of history’s most notable gender rebels: Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt. A warrior, a visionary, a pioneer… she is most remembered for her enduring ability to rewrite the narrative of history in her favor: a mythical legacy forever emblazoned into the walls of her temple at Dayr al-Bahri. The structure of the fragrance takes inspiration from the many depictions of Hatshepsut as a female figure in male dress. It juxtaposes softer, sweeping floral arcs (lotus, iris) with starker, contrasting resinous edges (kohl, kyphi), blending strength and beauty together against the crystalline backdrop of the Saharan sands.
Eye, Hatshepsut is crafted in collaboration with perfumer Cecile Hua of Mane USA. [...] Every bottle of Eye, Hatshepsut is hand filled, rolled in buckskin leather, and packed in patchouli.
Additional notes include papyrus, smoke, burnt tallow, cinnamon, honeyed wine, spiced patchouli, incense, labdanum, Egyptian musk.
Charenton Macerations Eye, Hatshepsut can be found now at Twisted Lily, in 30 ml Eau de Parfum, $100.
(quote via charentonmacerations, additional information via twistedlily)
Correction: Hatshepsut was the *only* female pharaoh. There were queens who were co-regents to the pharaoh, though.
Additional trivia: the udjat (Horus eye) i usually depicted as the left eye, the one Horus lost avenging his father Osiris murder by the hand of uncle Seth. The god Thoth healed the eye and gave it back to Horus. The torn eye represent the phases of the moon, protection and revenge.
Analysis of perfume found in Tutanckamun’s grave revealed that it was pure Spikenard macerated in animal fat. Not a smell I’d pay $100 for.
[end of history/mythology lesson. Sorry!]
Do not apologize, thank you so much for the correction and the lesson!
Just popping in as your friendly ‘local’ Egyptologist-archaeologist to say Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty) is indeed one of a few known women pharaohs, another being Tausret (last pharaoh of the 19th Dyn.) who was largely forgotten (or [cough] written out of history) until recent fieldwork. Of course Cleopatra should be counted, too. And while there isn’t definitive ‘proof’ for discipline-wide consensus, there is tantalizing evidence of other women having reigned as pharaohs stretching way back in Egyptian history, even to the First Dynasty (before the Pyramids).
I stand corrected. My favourite Egyptian queen is Tiye, main wife of Amrnhotep III. She wasn’t of royal blood, but had great power and seems to have been very smart. Her hubby ler her sign all important ‘papers’ with him. And in statues they are shown the same size. Not like the Abu Simbel colosses of Ramses II shows his queen demurely patting his calves.
Another thing that shows Egyptians revering women is the fact that a Pharaoh didn’t earn his right to the throne through his father, but because he had a mother of royal blood.
I’ve never been very interested in Cleopatra and the Graeco-roman times. And she did *not* look like Liz Taylor in that movie. And she wasn’t the great beauty people seem to think.
So many cool Egyptian women! I think Tiye’s relationship helped shape the similar one Akhenaten (her son) had with Nefertiti. Ha, yes, poor teeny tiny Nefertari! Cleopatra was bad-ass. She’s always gotten a raw deal, and my understanding is those ugly images of her (on coins) could well be an intentional Roman distortion, since she was a foreigner. (Anyway, shame on everyone for the misogynist reduction of a brilliant human to an object of beauty/ugliness!)
Thank you both!
This is super interesting, thank you!!
Another intriguing one from CM to try.
Yep!
This looks like it smells awesome. But good grief.
As an actual Egyptologist who also happens to focus on gender issues, I’ve got to comment on just one part of the the ad copy here! (The Orientalism behind products like this, for one thing, deserves a skewering elsewhere.) For a company that says it aims to avoid “tired gender stereotypes of scent”, Charenton Macerations doesn’t seem to mind perpetuating tired sexist tropes: Hatshepsut “is most remembered for her enduring ability to rewrite the narrative of history in her favor”. She is?!? According to whom?!? That kind of chauvinist portrayal is regularly used to undermine and delegitimize women both alive and dead. And it’s not true: I assure you, she’s remembered in history for things like her highly successful trade expedition to Punt and for her impressive construction projects. Gah!
Thank you for this! I may love scent but I hate all of the **** associated with it.
Yeah, perfume advertising has **** in spades. But for a brand that specifically characterizes itself as progressive on gender ideas, that’s quite a facepalm!
I think the key here is the female figure in male dress, which they are reading – wildly anachronistically no doubt, and without question simplistically – in terms of queering gender/trans subversions. I don’t see it as a sexist face palm, but taking real life used and using them in a bit sillily trendy way.
real life issue!
Precisely: the male dress “gender rebel” part is an anachronistic, Orientalist appropriation. The part that I was saying was facepalm was the claim that she was “most remembered” for writing a favorable history of herself–which is not only false but also a common sexist stereotype used to denigrate women historical figures (the ungifted, image-obsessed, status-seeker). So if you’re aiming for gender progress, facepalm, right?
I *think* why she chose the beard and the title of Pharaoh was because she saw herself as the offspring and reincarnation ov Amun. She was the living Amun and since Amun is a male…
Have to read more about her relationship with the architect Senmut now.
Creosote! I really admire what you do. Egyptologist focusing on gender issues. That is just coolness overload in my book.
Yep! That was the role of the pharaoh: to be the living semi-divine image of Amun/Horus/etc. on earth, tasked with keeping the cosmic balance. And the regalia of kingship were the uraeus, crook & flail, and even the false beard (although that was more so in death, as it was a sign of Osiris). So if Hatshepsut was gonna be the pharaoh, she had to dress like one–at least illustrate herself that way in official art. The relationship with Senemut was definitely important. It was the subject of rumor/gossip even then. (There’s a crude graffito of them from the time, I think in his tomb.)
Thanks! TBH, I’m not technically *doing* it right now… But I sure like it.
Thank you! Your comment is so relevant. ❤ No matter what women achieve, they are always the mischivious, the hysterical or had a lover.
Can you recommend a book about Hatshepsut a laywoman will be able to read?
Yep, particularly in history, women are portrayed as (1) oddities of some sort or (2) superficial, scheming b*****s or whores. Of course, that’s only if they’re not just entirely written out of it! It’s very tiring.
Yes, I can! Here are two by noted women(!) Egyptologists:
– ‘Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh’, by Joyce Tyldesley
– ‘The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt’, by Kara Cooney
Kara Cooney is awesome, and that book is so new, I don’t even have it myself yet. She also did a comparative-archaeology/anthropology TV series a few years back called ‘Out of Egypt’ which is available streaming on Amazon and possibly Netflix. And Joyce Tyldesley has written several other books about women in Ancient Egypt.
Thank you Creosote as this is exactly the type of conversation about fragrance and gender I enjoy having most. I totally understand your point of me being overly reductive in my copy, and am hoping that the longer form brief on our site better clarifies my intent. Perhaps I was just trying to say too much in one sentence. I whole heartedly agree that Hatshepsut’s accomplishments stretch well beyond gender performance, but also see this performance as important in understanding the complete depth of her political genius. But let’s also be fair: the line is meant as a direct reference to the physical writing on the walls of Dayr al-Bahri (the two tellings of her origins that precede the story of the excursion to Punt), and is prefaced by “warrior, visionary, pioneer,” which to me is a nod to said other accomplishments. These other elements (like trade with Punt, her architectural wonders, improved relations within the empire…) play an equally important part to the fragrance story, but structurally speaking, her knowingly playing with both gender (was she adopting “male” traits or adorning herself in a “male skin”?) and divinity (Amun’s living incarnation) were pertinent to the development of the scent’s form (born of the multiplicity of likeness of Hatshepsut we have unearthed).