Bottled up passion(1)
Cui Shaosong at his Beijing apartment, which houses a collection of more than 5,000 perfume bottles. Photos By Zou Hong / China Daily
A perfume container collector believes love and fate fuel his obsession. Han Bingbin reports.
Perfume bottle collector Cui Shaosong repeatedly apologizes for the state of his apartment, saying it's not suitable for visitors. The dwelling, which is less than 40 square meters, is filled with fragrances and crammed with intricately designed cabinets. These warehouse more than 5,000 perfume bottles of about 200 brands - old and new, empty and full. The 55-year-old's bed is set in the middle of the elegant mess. Cui says his collection cost him nearly 1 million yuan ($159,000), with which he could have purchased a larger apartment. He has responded to his wife's complaints over the years by saying: "Who can refuse an unexpected and happy fate?"
His perfume bottle collection started 30 years ago, when the then liquor collector asked a friend for three bottles but forgot to mention he meant liquor containers and was instead given perfume bottles.
Two were beautiful bottles of Mitsouko and Shalimar, both by Guerlain. They outshone his liquor bottles, and his passion for pretty perfume containers was born.
The latest addition is a silver bottle of Marc Jacobs Bang, which was released in 2011. The oldest bottle is from the 1890s.
His greatest source of pride is a pair of crystal bottles from a Japanese brand called Seven and a Half Drops.
The brand is so named because the small bottle contains only seven and a half drops of liquid that has changed from light yellow to dark red over the decades. The bottles were produced in 1926 to celebrate the first Showa Year, and each have a large pyramidal cap inside on which the likeness of the Showa Tower of Nara is sculpted.
One of the bottles was a gift from the owner of a bottle museum in Japan.
Cui intended to donate some of his finds to the museum when he visited in 1990.
The owner politely refused and gave him the precious item because he was the first Chinese visitor.
Cui is a devout Buddhist, who believes his obsession is the product of fate.
He believes it was destiny that he came across a larger but otherwise identical bottle at a Tokyo flea market, so he could create a pair.
