Lightyears Collection
Le Trèfle Incarnat
(1896)
L.T. Piver

Click to enlarge Trèfle Incarnat perfume by L.T. Piver

Click to enlarge Trèfle Incarnat bottle, seen from bottom. Notice that the bottle reads "L.T. Piver, Paris" rather than "L.T. Piver, France".

Click to enlarge L.T. Piver's paper stamp affixed to this bottle of Trèfle Incarnat.

Click to enlarge Unknown stamp affixed to this bottle of Trèfle Incarnat perfume by L.T. Piver

Le Trèfle Incarnat, created by perfumers Jacques Rouchè and Pierre Aremingeat, made use a newly synthesized aroma chemical, amyl salicylate. It was this use of aroma chemicals that began to pull perfumery out of the 19th century floral phase and bring it into the golden age of perfumery — the first five decades of the 20th century.

Amyl salicylate was a creation of chemist Georges Darzens who worked with Piver in order to put his discoveries to use. In fact, it is said that Trèfle Incarnat was developed under professor Drazen's supervision at l'Ecole polytechnique.

Trèfle Incarnat ("trèfle" is French for clover; "trèfle incarnat" is French for a particular variety of clover, the trifolium incarnatum) was blended from both the new iso amyl salicylate and iso eugenol with possibly a touch of natural clover tossed into the pot. The exact date of creation is somewhat in doubt but the 1896 appears to be reasonable.

Trèfle Incarnat was distributed to Piver's international market which included, in addition to France and the rest of Europe, the United States and Japan. Advertising for Trèfle Incarnat can be found in La Illustratión Españole as early as 1899. An existing page from the Atlantic Constitution from February, 1909, shows that Trèfle Incarnat, along with other Piver products, was being sold in that city.

It is believe that Piver continued to sell Trèfle Incarnat into the 1920's.

Some bottles were distributed with a glass stopper in the shape of a four leaf clover, although the illustration on the bottle's label continued to show a three-leaf clover — the anatomically correct trèfle incarnat.

Of Le Trèfle Incarnat, perfumer Ernest Beaux comments, "We now saw a perfume emerge from banality, the Trèfle Incarnat of Piver, based on amyl salicylate."

Trifolium incarnatum (trèfle incarnat)

If you have any information on Le Trèfle Incarnat, Jacques Rouchè, Pierre Armigeant, George Darzens or L.T. Piver, please share it with us using the message sender below.

• -, 02/24/2014.To clarify, Jacques Rouché was the creator. Armingeat was merely an
  apprentice at the time, and did not become a proper perfumer until Azurea.
  
  Plus, the formula (which we don'’t have in our collection) apparently contains eugenol as well as amyl salicylate and isoeugenol.
  
  Hope this helps.
  
  Will Inrig
  Stagiaire
  
  Osmothèque
  36 rue du parc de Clagny
  78 000 VERSAILLES
  www.osmotheque.fr
• -, 10/14/2006.
  Chemist Georges Darzens was born in Moscow, Russia, July 12, 1867. He worked in Paris, France, at l'Ecole polytechnique. He died September 10,1954.