Oh My Buddah, Perfume Bottles.

For those who like the “form” more than the content, the Pola Museum Annex show is just the show to drop by on to indulge in the art of glassmaking and displaying perfume. Some of my flickr friends might have gotten me conscious of contemporary Japanese packaging, by posting pictures of elaborate wrappings of mediocre chocolates and pastries. The Pola show is not just showing the state of perfume vessle making today, but giving a concise presentation of roughly 50 year from of history of the craft.

The reason I liked the Pola Museum Annex show is simply because of the vintage vessels and not what they are made to hold. It’s hard not to keep in mind the function of the containers, but I find them more beautiful empty then when filled with even best perfumes. The flasks on display range in size from the large, Art Nouveau craft works, which are heavy and look like glass water-bottles, to the eggshell, minimally decorated Turkish or Russian flasks which look like teacups. Some of the containers have the look of being mass produced objects, but therein lies their charm. To my untrained eye, the main part of the show seems to be Euro-centric, but there are also some gems of the typically Japanese perfume vessels from more removed historical periods.

Going through the exhibit must be, I imagine, like going through my imaginary French grandmother’s make-up vanity table… if I lived in the late 19th century as a French boy-child. Behind the sterile glass display, various bottles and flasks are as inviting and unreachable as grandma’s make-up. Take your granma out shopping in Ginza and don’t forget to visit Pola.