CLEOPATRA'S BOUDOIR

A'Suma was launched in France in 1934 by Coty.  It was jointly created by Francois Coty and Vincent Roubert.  The sensuous perfume was inspired by a mysterious moonlit beach in Bali. 

Advertisements of the era described the perfume as "A fragrance even more opulent than the mode, "A Suma" by Coty has the sensuous allure of a siren's song."

It was also touted as "reckless", "strange", "smoky", "luxurious", "rich", "intriguing", "mysterious", "sensuous", "alluring", and "entirely individual."

The fragrance was available in parfum, cologne and eau de toilette concentrations. 

It was housed inside a frosted glass sphere with a ball stopper. The bottle was decorated with molded chrysanthemum flowers. Some people mistake this as a Lalique bottle, but Lalique had nothing to do with it, it was designed by Coty himself and manufactured by Coty's own glass works.

Coty also drew upon the advice of potential design hiree, Pierre Camin. Coty  knew that the A'Suma flacon needed something else, and showed Camin a drawing of the bottle, Camin replied that it needed "a pedestal". Coty agreed and hired Camin on the spot just a few months before his death.

The A'Suma bottle rests on a black Bakelite pedestal and is housed inside an Oriental style black, gold and red presentation box, covered with Asian natural motifs.

By 1957, it was discontinued.