Other bottles are shaped like animals, human figures, fruit and flowers, and one has two carnival masks facing in opposite directions. One appears to be a standoff between a parrot and a hen; it holds two fragrances and once belonged to Mozelle Sassoon, an early 20th-century art collector and philanthropist.

Read more (and look at the pictures!) in 18th-Century Perfume Bottles Come Up for Auction at The New York Times.

“It’s part of the meaning,” says Christine Nagel, in-house perfumer at Hermès, of a bottle’s design. “For me, with scent, there is always meaning.” The two elements aligning is imperative; when they don’t, “it’s horrible”, she says. “It’s like… your great aunt knitting a terrible outfit for your lovely little baby, and you have to dress her up in it to keep everyone happy.”

— Read more in The art of the perfume bottle at Financial Times.

I never imagined the bottle standing vertically. Never. In my mind, women didn't need another object to put on their bathroom shelves. I pictured a flat, refillable, ultra-portable bottle with the proportions of a smartphone, which the hand is already used to. I wanted to create a bottle so thin that we had to construct various ways to create it.

— Architect and industrial designer Chafik Gasmi on the bottle he created for Lancôme Idôle. Read more in How Perfume Bottle Designs Affect Your Perception of the Scent Inside at Allure.