The earliest reference to perfumes and aromatic substances being used for religious and medicinal purposes is in the ancient Egyptian medical text, Ebers Papyrus, dated c.1550 BC. ‘The Sacred Perfume of Kyphi’ typically contained a precious blend of sixteen ingredients such as myrrh, juniper, frankincense, cyprus wood, aloes wood, Calamus of Asia, mastic and styrax which were rolled into balls and placed on hot coals to produce a perfumed smoke or imbibed as a medicine for liver and lung complaints. In ancient Rome, aromatic substances were believed to offer protection from infection and were carried clothing and in small boxes perforated with holes to allow the odour to escape. These substances were also burned to fumigate the air in sick rooms.

The word ‘pomander’ derives from two words in the French language, ‘pomme’ (apple) and ambergris (a substance produced by sperm whales used as an ingredient in perfumes). The first known use of the word, ‘Pomme d’embre’, was published in the medieval poem Roman de la Roseand by the 16th century had become associated with both the aromatic paste and the receptacles in which it was carried. Apothecaries developed special formulae to ward off the plague such as one attributed to Paula Suardus in a manuscript dated 1517 which contained cinnamon, amber, musk, styrax, mace juniper seeds, rose leaves, myrrh, sandal, Armenian Bole, Calamus, aromatic camphor and labdanum gum. These substances were crushed into a paste with rose water and shaped into small balls that were worn as beads of a necklace or a bracelet.

Pomanders were designed in a variety of formats to reflect their use. They were crafted as hollow pierced silver beads to wear on rosary necklaces; produced as small boxes to carry in the hand; fashioned into into silver and gold 'pendants' which were suspended from the waist or neck, and appeared as freestanding objects designed for tables.

Only the wealthy were able to afford highly decorative pomanders made from silver which would have contained expensive ingredients sourced from countries such as Indonesia, India and Africa. This example divided into segments, each of which was formed into a tiny box with a sliding lid used to keep the different aromatics separate and uncontaminated. The interior of the pomander was engraved with floral decoration, perhaps to evoke its contents, and the perforated base unscrewed to hold a tiny sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar, known as a ‘vinaigrette’. A typical 'vinaigrette' recipe would have been made from an immunity boosting blend of mint oil, rosemary, juniper, rue, sage, camphor, mace, cinnamon, lavender, lemon and cloves combined with alcohol and strong acetic acid. Such objects would have afforded the owner both high social status and talismanic protection. Pomanders were recorded among the jewels of Elizabeth I (who favoured a rose scent) and recorded in portraits such as Titian’s Clarissa Strozzi (1542) which depicted a young child wearing a pomander suspended from their waist.