This exquisite globe-shaped object opens into eight individual sections, each of which would have held a different powder, spice, or herb. The loop at top shows that it could have been hung around the body, perhaps at the neck or the waist. The word “pomander” likely refers to the French word pomme, or apple—appropriate to its shape.

One of the spices frequently included in pomanders was nutmeg, which was produced exclusively on the Banda Islands in present-day Indonesia. Nutmeg’s sweet smell came at great cost. During their conquest of the islands in 1621, Dutch soldiers killed or expelled over 15,000 Indigenous people to help ensure a monopoly on the nutmeg trade. The Dutch employed people in many forms of bonded labor, including slavery, on plantations for the production of this spice.

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