Early morning strolls through the Jardin de Luxembourg, sunny afternoons on the Piazza Navona in 1970’s Rome, balmy evenings in Cap d’Antibes; these are the settings that sisters Anouk and Nathalie van Spaendonck had in mind when they created Les Cires de Bassompierre.

Inspired by Betty de Bassompierre, their chic French grandmother whose garden was a panoply of roses, and by their ancestors Gerard and Cornelis van Spaendonck whose famous botanical paintings hang in the Frick Collection (NYC), the Louvre (Paris) and the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) - the two sisters created a range of candles designed to evoke the scenes from their childhood.

With 50 burning hours, a natural wick and a high perfume concentration, our hand-poured candles have been designed to transport you to a world of happiness and beauty.

LES CIRES

**VASARI**

**THE HOMO UNIVERSALIS**
A scent that will draw you in, conducive of intimate conversations in a secret corner of the library.
Think: leather books, outrageous scandal.

There is no better example of the Renaissance man than Giorgio Vasari. Painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, best known for his "Lives of…”, the 16th century equivalent of Gossip Girl.

This multitasking prodigy was the personification of his age. Fully trained in all aspects of artes liberales, one would expect Vasari to be a man of reason. And although he was indeed enlightened in the 16th century sense of the word, Vasari was, above all else, human - and as such unable to hide his absolute favouritism for Michelangelo.

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Top note: Bergamot

Middle notes: Moss I Frankincense I Cedarwood

Base notes: Guaiac I Amber

290g I soy blend wax I 8% perfume
Burning time: approx 50 hours

**AGRIPPINA**

**THE RUTHLESS OPPORTUNIST**
This warm scent carries a musky sandalwood base and bergamot hints in the top note. Evocative of late summer afternoons with friends and plenty of Dry Martinis on the rocks.

The “callous and menacing” Agrippina the Younger (AD 16–59), Augustus’s great-granddaughter, was a hand-picked empress. Hand-picked by herself, as it turned out. A brilliant and ruthless opportunist, she used her lineage and her son Nero to make herself the most powerful woman in Roman history.

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Top notes: Geranium I Green Cassis I Bergamot

Middle notes: Rose I Muguet I Lily

Base notes: Musk I Sandalwood I Vanilla I Amber

290g I soy blend wax I 8% perfume

Burning time: approx 50 hours

**LIVIA DRUSILLA**

**THE PRIM POWER BROKER**
Like its namesake, this scent has more dimension than one would expect; sensual with a hint of citrus, followed by mossy woods.

Livia (58 BC–AD 29), the wife of Emperor Augustus, somehow pulled off the trick of being enormously powerful while posing as the model of Roman female propriety. She was determined to see her son Tiberius succeed Augustus, whatever the price, and has been blamed for murdering any rivals who she considered to stand in her way.

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Top note: Cassis I Mandarin

Middle notes: Neroli I Geranium I Lavender I Chamomile I Cardamon

Base note: Oud

290g I soy blend wax I 8% perfume

Burning time: approx 50 hours

**VITRUVIUS**

**THE ORIGINAL ARCHITECT**
A smokey scent which will transport you to a stiff G&T by the fireplace after an autumn day in the outdoors. Wax coats and muddy shoes piled up in the boot room.

Born to the Republic during the 1st Century BC, Vitruvius' architectural trinity (firmitas, utilitas, and venustas, referring to "strength", "utility", and "beauty") became the inspiration for many buildings in the Roman empire. Perhaps even more impressive, his discussion of perfect proportion in architecture remained relevant 1600 years later when Leonardo da Vinci transferred these principles to the human body, producing his Vitruvian Man.

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Top note: Conifers

Middle notes: Cedar I Amber

Base notes: Balsam fir I Leather

290g I soy blend wax I 8% perfume

Burning time: approx 50 hours

**OCTAVIA**

**THE DYNASTIC TOOL**
Snuff boxes, perfume bottles and flowing silk dressing gowns.
A scent as lovely as its name sake, Octavia carries the femininity of an elegant powder room with a delicate flower arrangement on the side table.

Tragic Octavia (69–11 BC). Used by her brother Augustus as a dynastic tool, she was expected to produce heirs and live up to the exacting moralizing standards of the regime. Octavia behaved as the respectful and compliant Stepford Wife she was supposed to be as well as proving a dynastic lynchpin. Cuckolded by her last husband, Mark Antony, in favor of Cleopatra, she spent much of her life grieving for her dead son Marcellus.

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Top note: Berries

Middle notes: Rose I Geramium

Base notes: Oak I Musk I Patchouli

290g I soy blend wax I 8% perfume

Burning time: approx 50 hours

**MERCURIUS**

**THE LATTER GOD**
Sailing into the bay of Saigon on a breezy morning, red sails ablaze . A scent which evokes freshness and depth in its many layers.

The Roman god of travel, commerce and profit is perhaps our favorite. Handsome and modern, Mercurius had us at "winged sandal". It was only once the Romans started trading with the Greeks that they needed a god to cover the commercial departments - and so did we!