This portrait of Ava Gardner was taken in the late 1940s in the bedroom of her Nichols Canyon cottage in Los Angeles. Besides the Degas print on the wall and some framed family photos, what has caught my attention are the perfume bottles on the dresser. I have identified three of them.

One of the first bottles from the left is Lanvin Arpège extrait, with the square bakelite stopper. This fragrance was created by Paul Vacher and Andre Fraysse and launched in 1927.

There’s also a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain. It has been used to house several fragrances but this one is likely to be Mitsouko, one of Gardner’s favourite scents. This chypre fruity fragrance was created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1919.

On the far right there’s Fleurs de Rocaille by Caron. Housed in a beautiful urn-shaped bottle designed by Félicie Vanpouille, this floral aldehyde fragrance was created by Ernest Daltroff and launched in 1934.

Thanks to Barbara Pfouts for submitting this post.