Public Workshop No. 4
Past and Present Scents of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
The Metopion Perfume
Presented at Smell Lab in Berlin by Alchemies of Scent x Klara Ravat
“The Cyprinum from Cyprus was first preferred, then suddenly the Mendesian and Metopion from Egypt became very famous.”
At our fourth workshop, we re-join olfactory artist Klara Ravat, this time at the Smell Lab studio in Berlin, to explore again the Metopion perfume in a one-day format. Participants will recreate and blend their own ancient and modern versions of the Metopion, an Egyptian-styled perfume from the Greco-Roman period.
The Metopion was likely made by the same artisans who crafted the Mendesian perfume (named for the ancient city of Mendes) and which Sean helped recreate for National Geographic’s 2019 Queens of Egypt exhibition. While researching the Mendesian, Sean also found a complete recipe for the Metopion perfume, written in ancient Greek and preserved in a book of recipes from the seventh century.
““In Egypt, they make a perfume which they call locally Metopion, because they mix galbanum into it, for the wood from which galbanum is made is called metopon.””
THE WORKSHOP
At this workshop, we are time-travelers moving back and forth from the ancient world of perfumery to today’s.
We will talk about the myths and stories of scents and substances of the Ancient Mediterranean by plunging into one of the first cross-cultural perfumes of the Greco-Egyptian world: the Metopion.
You will smell, touch and taste the difference between the raw ingredients used in the past and the prepared ingredients of today: bitter almond, cardamom, galbanum, myrrh, calamus, and honey.
You will develop skills of interpreting ancient recipes, and you will learn how to use ancient recipes to experiment with scents in ancient and modern ways. You will be provided with a translation of the ancient Metopion recipe with ancient and modern formulas, and with it you will learn to work in the ancient way using raw ingredients in oil and in the modern way using scented materials like essential oils and synthetics in alcohol.
In the end, you will recreate ancient and modern versions of the Metopion to take home with you.
If you decide to follow the workshop online we can prepare a box of materials for you to follow our guidelines from home. We will set up a camera at the Smell Lab and you will be able to follow the workshop in real time.
This event is hosted at Smell Lab Berlin. Please visit the link below for more information and registration.
DETAILS
Date: 23 April 2023
Place: Smell Lab, Winsstr. 42, 10405 Berlin, Germany.
Also available simultaneously online, with the option to purchase a materials package.
Time: 10:00–17:00
Cost: Standard Price 111 EUR
Early Bird Tickets until 11 April: 85 EUR
Online Attendance: 85 EUR + (optional) 22 EUR for materials + shipping costs