The IPBA Virtual Museum welcomes “Cythéréa” by Honoré Payan as its 12,000th item.
“Cythéréa” is a clear glass bottle of urn shape features a central frosted panel with a nude, and a red glass flame stopper. Cythéréa is another name for Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love and pleasure. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was forced by Zeus to marry Hephaestus, the god of fire (which may explain the flame stopper). Perhaps she is a Greek goddess clone, but her hairstyle is a flapper cut after Colleen Moore.
This extremely rare bottle has no company identification, but in this case font and style tell the tale. The writing on the label is a known font and style for Payan. The bottle is marked “made in France”.
Honoré Payan founded his company in Grasse, France in 1854, first as a mostly essential oils company for other perfumers and then later as a perfumer under his own label in the early part of the 20th century. The company moved to 33 boulevard Malesherbes, Paris circa 1910, and was affiliated with Payan et Bertrand.
