Nizamy, Rue Royale, 'Royal Road', 50 ml. or 1.69 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1920, Paris, France ..

During the 1920's there was a tremendous interest in all things foreign and oriental in Europe. The perfume industry also absorbed many oriental themes and names. Marny was a perfumer who named on of his perfumes Nizami, after the famous Persian poet of that name.

"The poet Nizami Ganjavi (1140–1202) is one of the giants of the Persian literary tradition. As a narrative poet, he stands between Abolqasem Firdawsi (ca. 940–ca. 1020), the poet of Iran's heroic tradition and the author of Shahnamah (Book of Kings), and Jalaluddin Rumi (1207–1273), whose Divan-i kabir (Great Divan) and Kitab-i Masnavi Ma'navi (Spiritual Couplets) virtually define the forms of mystical lyric and mystical narrative poetry, respectively. Nizami’s narrative poetry is more comprehensive than that of either Firdawsi or Rumi, in that it includes the romantic dimensions of human relations as well the heroic, and plumbs the human psyche with an unprecedented depth and understanding. To be sure, a profound spiritual consciousness pervades his poetry, and to suggest otherwise would be to do him a disservice, but he does not, as does Rumi, make the whole focus of his work the evocation and articulation of the transcendent dimension of existence.

Nizami brought about a comparable expansion of the language of poetry, as well. He was among the first poets in Iran to wed the lyric style of court poetry, with its rhetorical intricacy and metaphoric density, to narrative form, and his language is as much a presence on the narrative stage as are the characters and events it depicts. For him, discourse or eloquent speech .. sokhan, or more particularly, the precise, beautiful, and signifying language of the poet, is his dominant concern. For Nizami, poets have a status nearly divine. He repeatedly draws attention to the shaping and educative function of sokhan in his books, and goes so far as to liken his poetry to the Qur'an itself as a source of clear moral guidance, a bold assertion for his time. In The Treasure House of Mysteries, he writes, "The first manifestation of existence was speech …. Without speech the world has no voice."

I can find absolutely nothing remaining on the Internet or in my books about a perfumer named Nizamy, but can glean that it was a very fashionable name to use in the industry. The perfume, Rue Royale, is a lively spicy oriental, with lovely notes of incense and spices. There are no notes to be found, but my guess from smelling this exotic perfume would be something like this . .

Top notes are Mandarin, Bergamot, Orange Blossom, and Neroli
Heart notes are Rose, Jasmine, Carnation, Gardenia, Ylang Ylang, and Incense
Base notes are Sandalwood, Benzoin, Frankincense, and Myrrh

Offered here is a large and beautiful mystery bottle of this long gone perfume, from the times when Paul Poiret was incorporating the orient into many of his themes, and people were fascinated with Egypt, Turkey, India, and China. This name reminds me of the Nizam of Hyderabad!! This bottle has been previously opened, but barely used.

A lovely deep oriental ..