Cotta Diane #3

The Vestments Collection

Named for a short linen smock, this is a floral blending that includes the following aromatics: Lilac, Costmary and Orris.

From the steppes of the Caucasus’s on the Black Sea, where it grew in wild abandon, the sweet scented LILAC was introduced to the English Court in the 1550’s by Oliver Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and would become a forever favorite of the English garden.

So revered to the Egyptians was the iris that it was dedicated to the god Juno and placed on the brow of the Sphinx, the three leaves of its flower denoting wisdom, faith and valor. Extracted from its root the hauntingly aromatic ORRIS oil, used most sparingly in only the grandest of ceremony.

Native to the Orient the feathery leafed COSTMARY was introduced to the west by the trade ships of Cathay. Sweet smelling and pungent tasting it was used in ale making or for salads and pottage its flavor so enticing. In the manor houses of England it was often tied in bundles to scent the bed linens of the aristocracy. Once most common in every European garden it is now a very rare find indeed.