ATTAR OF ROSES | Sacred Oil, Fragrant Balm And Medicinal Wonder-Cure with Susan Scollay

Traces of fragrant oils made by priests have been dated to the 5th millennium BCE in ancient Egypt, but it was the ancient Persians in circa 500 BCE who most likely first used precious rose oil for pleasure as well as sacred purposes. Later, the Ottoman Turks used a combination of traditional music and rosewater aromatherapy for the promotion of well-being and in medicinal applications - especially in the treatment of mental illness.

SUSAN SCOLLAY is an independent art historian and curator specialising in Islamic art and culture and in historic textiles. She is a contributing editor to HALI, the prestigious, London-based journal of carpet, textile and Islamic art. She was guest curator of Fluid Borders: Ways of Seeing Oriental Rugs held at The Johnston Collection in 2010. Her recent curated exhibition, Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond was shown at the State Library of Victoria and the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, in 2012-13. In 2013 she was elected in London as a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. ‘

Üsküdarlı Ali Efendi (c. 1698–c.1764) A damask rose from A Süheyl Ünver, Müzehhip ve Çiçek Ressamı Üskudarlı Ali, Istanbul, 1954