Louis-Toussaint Piver, Violette, 'Violet', 30 ml. or 1 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1907, 1950, Paris, France ..

L.T. Piver is a very old French perfume house comparable to Guerlain in that it served the Royalty of France in the 18th & 19th Centuries. L.T. Piver is one of the oldest fragrance makers in France that are still active. The foundation of the company is contemporary with Lubin, Houbigant, Guerlain, E. Coudray and Oriza Legrand. It was in 1774 that the French perfumer and glove maker Michel Adam opened his boutique A La Reine des Fleurs in Paris, around the time he was launching L'Essence Vestimentale, a lavender-based fragrance. The opening of the shop happened due to the success he had after being named the main supplier of perfumed products for the Royal Court of Louis XVI. Today his seminal work is still alive under the name of L.T. Piver, an important element in French perfume culture.

R. Adam, son of Michel Adam, took hold of the business in 1799 but he died six years later, leaving the house to his German cousin Pierre-Guillaume Dissey. The name by which we still know and wear the creations from this manufacturer comes from a partnership Pierre-Guillaume Dissey signed with Louis Toussaint Piver in 1813. The company was then named Dissey et Piver.

Some years later, Dissey died and Louis Toussant Piver, despite his grief, got full control of the house and ran it with great success, under the name L.T. Piver. Boosting the company's sales, King Charles X named L.T. Piver as supplier for the Court. In 1825 the Duchess of Berry gave him the same privilege making A La Reine des Fleurs the most famous perfumery in Paris, selling not only fragrances but also cosmetics. Soon this boutique became insuficient for the demand and in 1826 L.T. Piver opened a factory with the latest technologies.

Every powerful man and woman in France loved L.T. Piver and during the Second Empire, Piver became the supplier for the Emperor. As told by Annick Le Guérer in the book Le Parfum, Des Origines a Nos Jours, Napoleon III loved Piver's lettuce soap and the Empress Eugénie was fond of L'Essence des Fleurs d'Andalousie. Prizes and other distinctions were not scarce in the company's portfolio. 1867 is the year Alphonse becames Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and the company received another medal.

But the really important step for the L.T. Piver brand came in 1896, when Jacques Rouché, Berthe Piver's husband, became director. He had published a revolutionary article called "State of The Art of the Perfumery" in France and had a multinational business vision for the company, but he also wanted to keep and even elevate the artistic value of the house by hiring the best perfumers for the creation of a vast line of fragrances, some of which are still in the market today. These were Pompeïa, 1907, Rêve d'Or, 1927, and Cuir de Russie, 1939, now named just Cuir. These were the scents that started the golden age of L.T. Piver and they represent the time when the expansion of the line took place throughout the world.

Offered here is an enchanting Violette by Piver. Not the same as the Violette de Parme that I also have, but a sweet and very French violette. It is still sealed and comes in its original presentation box. Delightful!