September 10, the Day of variegated bouquets, one of the autumn holidays, which is directly related to flowers. It is customary on this day to present each other small bouquets of bright autumn flowers – asters, gladioluses, dahlias, chrysanthemums.... Their festive colors of lilac, white, red, yellow hues are a delight to the eye.

On this wonderful holiday – the Day of variegated bouquets, a story about the forgotten accessory of the past, the porte-bouquet, posy holder or tussie-mussie, is posted in the column “Exhibit in details”.

This accessory is a holder for a floral bouquet to be presented to a lady. Porte-bouquets were usually attached to a bodice, thus decorating the outfit. It was made of a cardboard and sometimes of silver or other metal and it resembled a small vase. A porte-bouquet is said to be the common name for an accessory-holder for a bunch of flowers. It can be attached to clothing, held in the hand; it can be hanging on a chain that is fixed on the wrist, belt or chatelaine. This accessory came into fashion in France, during the reign of Louis XIV, and then gained popularity in many countries.

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, ladies often decorated their clothes and hair with flowers that were placed in small bottles, which stored the flowers fragrant and fresh. These first porte-bouquets were hidden inside bodices. Damp moss could also be placed inside a porte-bouquet – it also preserved the bouquets’ freshness.

Such miniature bouquets were also worn to prevent disease or to mask unpleasant odors indoors and outdoors. People believed that pleasant odors were not only decoration, but also prevented infectious diseases, epidemics of which were frequent and devastating at that period. The masks of ‘plague doctors’ with incense and pomanders, which were worn on their bodies and on rosaries, placed in the rooms and carriages, were the basis of this faith.

Usually a porte-bouquet was in the form of a cone-shaped vase and made of various materials – gold, silver, ivory or mother-of-pearl. The accessories were decorated with enamels, precious stones, pearls, miniatures, as well as mirrors for discreet peeping, which was important because of the formal style of the court.

Later, in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, porte-bouquet turned into a fashionable accessory for ladies. The heyday of fashion for porte-bouquets occurred in the 19^th century. The accessories became genuine pieces of art. They were lavishly decorated with gold, silver, enamel and precious stones. Elaborately designed ones had a tiny flap leg for the transformation of a porte-bouquet into a miniature vase.

Porte-bouquets played another essential role in the life of a socialite. It was considered extremely indecent to play around with men. Not only the complex language of the fan, but also the language of flowers was invented to exchange love messages. Each flower, its type (wilted or fresh) and its color, the number of plants – all the subtleties had had tremendous semantic meaning. It was important where the lady attached the presented bouquet: whether she held it in her hand or fastened it on her waist, etc. It was also significant how the young girl accepted the bouquet. If she kissed the flowers – it was a sign of approval, in case she carelessly hung it on her hand – it meant indifference.
Today, porte-bouquets are not only rare museum pieces, but desirable objects for collecting.

The museum Collection section “Russian Enamel” features a similar holder for floral bouquets – a porte-bouquet created in St Petersburg in the last quarter of the 19^th century. The exhibit is a silver funnel with closed bottom end, mounted on three folding legs. The entire surface of the porte-bouquet is decorated with stylized enamel filigree foliage pattern in the Russian style on the canvassed background. The pattern is comprised of eight-petal flowers, leaves and curls. The enamels coloristic scheme is based on the combination of red, turquoise, green, blue, white, lilac colors.