Monde des parfums : histoire des Brocard - История БРОКАР

vendredi 1 septembre 2023

Exposition industrielle : pavillon Brocard

Une photo du pavillon Brocard lors de l'exposition industrielle au pôle Khodynskoe à Moscou en 1882.

Old russian lace with the heraldic symbols of the Tzar

Can you recognize the two eagles from the Tzar and the heraldic symbols with the crows, realized on this lace from the old time ? It was used in an Orthodoxe church in Russia, around the furnace bridge.

technorati tags: Lace, eagle, russia, brocard

Brocard : Eau de Cologne Impériale (in 1897)

A nice exemple of advertizing from the old time, about the nice "Eau de Cologne Impériale" from Brocard. I don't know how the bottle was created ? Is it a thermoform bottle with a complex design, or the label with a nice image of that period. I like it. Even if the humidity has impacted the paper with large brown areas.

Whan I am thinking about the millions of bottles prepared for Brocard each year. Imagine there were more than 10 millions of bottles in 1914, it is strange to have few on the market today.

What was the formula of this nice fragrance ?
A nice memory without more details ?

© Family Brocard.
Usage of the image under authorization only

Un tissu en soie d'apparat brodé de fils d'argent

Sur cette étoffe en soie, se dessinent différents motifs brodés de fils d'or et d'argent. Dans la partie centrale, ce sont comme des petits cailloux juxtaposés habilement, donnant comme un effet de galuchat, un peu art déco.
Sur les deux côtés, des entrelacs floraux, de paillons et de guirlandes, impriment un mouvement plus classique.
Quel était l'usage de ce tissu d'apparat ? Ornait-il le "plastron" d'une homme ou d'une femme ? A quelles occasions était-il revêtu en Russie ? Le mystère reste. Les références documentaires manquent. A moins que vous ayez des idées ?

technorati tags: soie, broderies or broderie argent

Complex horses embroideries from Russian Empire time

This is a nice embroiderie symbolizing two horses on a pillow. The work is very fine and coming also from the Russian period before the revolution. I am interested to know if this kind of design is related to a specific region in Russia.

The realization of this embroiderie on cotton can be from the late XVIIIe century to the XIXe or earlier, but I have no enough documentation to check it.

Unique bottle for first days of a perfume ?

This is still a question for me. About 20 years ago, I was collecting this bottle with a nice design, probably "art nouveau" for the paintings of the birds but not for the rest of the body which is much more classical. The cristal itself is very fine but the use of the bottle was first for me a mystery.

After some searches today, it seems to be connected to the perfume industry. Maybe from the Roure or Brocard perfume industry linked to the family. The usage of this bootle was probably to store some perfume extract after their creation, to be presented to the customers. Somewhere a precious and jewel box for the first days of a perfume...

A potential hypothesis for me... If you have some confirmations it would be interesting ?
Thanks for your feed-back.

Old Brocard perfume alambic

What a strange alambic outside the house. It looks like a primitive one with all the different parts to freezen the liquid and split the different substances. I like the composition of the picture. Old wooden house, nice barrels...

The alambic looks curious as the first part of it, on the left looks so small. This normally the space where you are inserting the core of the plants to be distilled. So I can imaine that the large part of it can be inside the house, at a lower floor.

Another strange thing, are the different small pipes inserted at the middle of the "col de cygne". I know that closed to the plant of Brocard, some areas were dedicated to the culture of Reseda. Was this alambic distilling this famous plant ? A question which will not be probably

In 1889, the firm Brocard had 25 years old

From this period, different books were dealing about the 25 birthday of the Brocard company. I remeber some official pictures which are completely different with the following, coming from the private archive.

There are in fact reflecting the good spirit visible within the firm and the social concerns of the owners Henri & Charlotte Brocard.

I have some difficulties to recognize people on the pictures. Probably some managers & workers of the plant having a lunch within the site, after an Orthodoxe mass already presented on the blog.

On this picture we can see a woman dancing and probably singing. We can imagine the old Russian song of that time, with adapted words about the story of Brocard to emphasize the nice history of this perfume industry with probably some humor.

The last picture was remembering me a large dinner with 450 people invited and where I was preparing the menu. By similarity I can imagine the guy as the cooker of this large lunch. He looks a little bit shy as all people in the backside but whose the role is key for the success of such an event like this one.

Brocard perfume advertizing : end of the XIXe century

A nice large advertizing (A4 format) from the Brocard perfume industry, with nice vivid colors even if this one is old, about the end XIXe century.
I am not able to understand the meaning of the text. We can be surprised to see the young men on the right drinking something on a poster related to the perfume.

As it is probably not vodka, the meaning is somewhere else. Probably in

technorati tags: Brocard, advertizing, perfume, Брокар

Ferrand & Brocard appartement souvenirs in Moscow

Different fragments of a nice decoration from an appartement in Moscow before the Russian Revolution. A discovery evocated in the blog "Sur les pas d'une collection".

Couvre-chef pour l'épouse lors des mariages à Nijni Novgorod, XVIIIe century

It was a magnificent hat, for a woman in Russia closed to the region of Nijni Novgorod. A mix of a complex design in gold and silver. We can perceived on it the image of the symbolized eagles. This object was collected before 1900 in the country.

The date of it seems to be closed to the end of the XVIIIe century.

We can imagine it was coming from the Brocard collection which is now partially in the Tretiakov gallery in Moscow.

Creativity in art deco period in Russia

Well this is a long day. And I have not been updating the blog for a long time. So I am seizing the opportunity to share more news during this week-end.

This interesting post about a Russian art deco design can have some interest, representing again the old symbols of the Russian Empire with a very inventive approach.

technorati tags: Brocard, design, art deco

Art Nouveau design and extravagant Russian invitation

This nice paper can be an invitation at the beginning of the century, in 1902, or the memory of an event concerning this wife and men ? Unfortunately I am not able to read it. In any case, the design is incredible with all those magnificent form of the "art nouveau" period.

The quality of the paper is also perfect which is great for such a souvenir of this time, after the revolution.
Somewhere, this is fantastic to imagine the common trend of the "art nouveau" style in whole Europe including Russia with some extravagances given by the tradition and the culture there.

We can observe there a real complexity of flowers, mix of colors, creativity in the way to present two old photographies.
The tree or something which is resembling, seems connected to a dream like a vivid vegetable.

If you are able to give us more information about, especially our Russian readers, do not hesitate. ;-)

The Brocard's windmill in Moscow about 1890

The Brocard family in Mosow about 1890, with at the center Henri and Charlotte Brocard, founders of the Brocard industry and great inventor of Perfume in the Russian Empire.
We can also recognize Eugénie Brocard and Georges Félix Ferrand, who were also working into the company. Eugénie tried after the Russian revolution to relaunch the Brocard perfume industry in France at Saint Brice la Forêt, but a terrible fire destroyed their dreams.

Their daughter Henriette Ferrand is also visible closed to her father. Henriette will be married to Jean Roure in France, who will inherit a part of the Roure perfume industry in essential oils and absoluts.

Others members of the Family are gathered on the picture as Auguste Ferrand and his wife, the related Giraud family, and other Brocard's children as Alexandre and Emile who will work in the perfume industry. Alexandre, especially will continue to ensure the direction of the company after the Russian revolution until 1920 or 1922.
Three wet-nurse are also on the photography with the younger members of the family. You can recognize them with something which is looking like a diadem on their hairs.

This windmill, probably only decorative was at the end of the Brocard property in Moscow, closed to the plant.

Old soap advertizing from Brocard perfume industry

Two old advertizing from Brocard about probably the "national soap".
Henry Brocard contributed introduced an hygienic revolution in Russia with one soap for one kopeck. Before that period, soap and beauty stuff were too expensive for the whole population in the empire.

Brocard sold millions of soap in the old Russia, developping the history of the "national soap".
This first successfull experience encouraged Henry Brocard to diversify the soap's offer with more sophisticated formulas including glycerine, Mai fleuri, concombre, amber...