A Life in Pursuit of the Scent of the Prophet

Collector Bekir Kantarcı's scent collection, which he started with curiosity during his university years and eventually became his passion, was exhibited. Kantarcı, one of the few scent and bottle collectors in our country, opened the "Gılaf-ı Reyya" exhibition at the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum with the contributions of Kuveyt Türk. The valuable and unique perfume bottles produced between the 18th and 20th centuries met with art lovers for the first time. The works collected from different continents and geographies fascinate those who see them with both the scents they contain and their designs. From rosewater burners to incense burners, from Beykoz glass to European crystals, the bottles produced with different materials, techniques and applications take you on a fragrant journey into the depths of history.

Ahmet Faruki's perfume piano set

THE OLDEST PILGRIMAGE PIECES ARE HERE

Kantarcı, who stated that he created his 30-year collection for the Fragrance Museum of his dreams, stated that the reason for the delay in the exhibition was these works. The collector from Yalova said that his first encounter with scent began in 1984 when he came to Istanbul to study at university. Stating that the scents of Mecca are indispensable to his collection, Kantarcı talked about his first acquired work as follows: “The first scents I encountered and researched were musk, amber and oud. Musk and amber in particular are extremely mysterious. Our Prophet and the Masjid al-Nabawi smelled of musk. What is musk, what was the musk of that day like? Solving this mystery was a very important subject for me. I went to Mecca in 1987. Thanks to the perfumers there, I made an effort to get to know those musks. The scents of Mecca sent from Istanbul are important both in terms of being the subject of the Surre-i Hümayun and in terms of scenting those places. Pilgrims also have a tradition of bringing scents from Mecca. "While researching the oldest scent containers, I found pilgrim scent containers dating back to the 1890s. The first ones I found were small copper containers with glass mouths sealed with special wax," he said.

THE FIRST TURKISH PERFUMER'S ARTICLES ARE ON EXHIBITION

The items used by the first perfumer of the Ottoman period, Ahmed Faruki, were on display for the first time at the exhibition. Bekir Kantarcı, who said that he had enough materials to publish a book about Ahmet Faruki, explained how the collection came to him in 2020 as follows: “The perfume piano we are exhibiting was made in Germany in 1885. I own all of its materials, machinery, and scales. I took over the works that a collector who had done research on the subject had collected over 40 years.”

There is also Ataturk's perfume bottle

Curator Beste Gürsu, who stated that they have been working on the exhibition for about three years, said, “The history of cologne in Turkey can be seen through the bottles. Bekir Bey is the person who has the largest perfume bottle collection in Turkey and who has brought together the most beautiful collections. The example of the perfume bottle that was at Atatürk’s bedside when he died, the first bottles produced by Beykoz, the British Royal bottles as well as all the cologne brands in Turkey and Europe are here. Some bottles in the collection pieces are double. Their collection value is high. The bottles express the value given to scent. The importance in the Ottoman Empire is the place of beautiful scent in our religion.”