From Les Parfums De Marcy, this trompe l’oeil orange contained 8 glass perfume bottles. The orange-section shaped bottles were stored upside-down to conceal their caps.
There are two pretty nice photos that dominate search results for “L’Orange Variee.”
One is the photo from a 2004 auction at Rago Arts (on left) described on their website as,
“L’Orange,” a perfume bottle set for Parfums de Marcy, circa 1925, consisting of eight enameled glass bottles as orange segments, set in painted ceramic holder, with paper labels for “Les Lilas.” Minor exterior wear. Ht. 2 1/2″
Sale Price: $1,410
Estimate: $800
and the other is from a 2010 auction at Kenneth James (on right) described in their catalog as,
1925 De Marcy “L’Orange Variee” perfume presentation, complete as a peeled orange of painted composition, holding 8 glass bottles with labels. 3 in.
Estimate: $1,000 – $1,500
Starting Bid: $500
Finding an intact 8-pack set is apparently a rare thing, although separate bottles have survived here and there…
this bottle sold for $16.49 at an eBay auction this month
(more seldom seen trompe l’orange photos, after the fold…)
detail of a photo from a 2015 eBay auction for “9 DARLING MINIATURE PERFUME BOTTLES”
Trompe l’oeil perfume packaging was generally popular in the 20s and 30s, although faux citrus fruit was atypical.
…the trompe l’oeil perfume bottle did double duty as a visual representation of the seductive, illusory, and ephemeral nature of perfume, and of those heady, fragile, never-to-be-repeated decades.
Art & Antiques Associates, 1997
The photo on right is from a 2011 eBay auction.
See also: Cleopatra’s Boudoir, half-an-orange packaging and Preston Grubbs’s Spherical Wedge Juice Packs
A lovely design.