XJ 1861 Renaissance by Xerjoff

First composed in 2011, XJ 1861 Renaissance is one of Xerjoff's most enduring creations — a green, citrus aromatic that opens with the kind of brightness that commands a room before a word is spoken. Tart-sweet tangerine, Calabrian bergamot, and Amalfi lemon lead, softened by the woody freshness of petitgrain.

At the heart, freshest rose and lily of the valley emerge with a clean, enveloping quality, balanced by crushed mint — cool and precise. The overall effect is radiant without being loud, expressive without effort. A fragrance for those who understand that restraint is its own form of power.

Unisex. Equally at home in The Queen's Collection and The King's.

Details
House: Xerjoff · Name: XJ 1861 Renaissance · Size: 3.4 oz (100ml) Eau de Parfum · Profile: Green citrus aromatic · Notes: Tangerine, Bergamot, Amalfi Lemon, Petitgrain, Rose, Lily of the Valley, Crushed Mint · Unisex

Tudor courtiers carried pomanders — small gilded spheres filled with ambergris, musk, and aromatic resins — not merely for pleasure, but as protection; the prevailing belief held that pleasant scent could ward off plague and disease. To smell well was, quite literally, to survive. Elizabeth I understood this instinctively: when the Earl of Oxford presented her with perfumed gloves in 1574, she became so enamoured that scented leather became a court obsession for decades — fragrance was worn on gloves, handkerchiefs, hair, and pomanders alike. Henry VIII's personal perfume accounts survive in the royal records; he favoured heavy, resinous compositions of musk, civet, and rose water, applied liberally to his clothing and chambers, and his perfumer was among the most well-compensated members of the royal household. Renaissance perfumers were considered alchemists as much as craftsmen — a tradition Xerjoff honours still, founded on the philosophy that fragrance demands the same precision and rarity as fine jewellery.