Guerlain has unveiled a new limited edition of its most iconic vessel, the Bee Bottle, reimagined once again by Turkish jewelry designer Begüm Khan, this time to celebrate the Guerlinade, the olfactory signature at the heart of the Maison’s L’Art & La Matière collection. Announced on April 13, 2026, the new Exceptional Piece continues one of Haute Parfumerie‘s most celebrated creative partnerships, bringing together nearly two centuries of French perfume heritage and the handcrafted jewelry traditions of Istanbul.
A Bottle With Royal Roots
The Bee Bottle‘s history stretches back to 1853, when Guerlain created the Eau de Cologne Impériale as a wedding gift for Napoleon III and Spanish Princess Eugenie, presented in a dark crystal bottle tinted gold and adorned with embossed bees honoring the Bonaparte family coat of arms.
From that moment, the bee became the Maison‘s enduring symbol, appearing on bottles gifted to Queen Victoria, Queen Isabella of Spain, and the Romanov dynasty over the following decades. Guerlain was founded in 1828 by Pierre François Pascal Guerlain, making it one of the oldest and most storied perfume houses in the world.
Begüm Khan: Where East Meets West
Begüm Khan, born into a family of art collectors in Istanbul and founder of the eponymous jewelry Maison, first collaborated with Guerlain in 2021, producing what is widely considered the first bottle design collaboration in the history of Haute Parfumerie.
For that inaugural edition, she created a bee in gilded bronze seated atop four orchids, inlaid with a pavé of 6,500 zirconia stones, with each bottle requiring more than 50 hours of craftsmanship and limited to just 13 copies at €10,000 each.
Begüm Khan said, “As the scent of oriental sandalwood mixed with the bergamot of the Mediterranean, a fairy tale began to form in my mind. Enticed by the legends of the ancient Ottoman capital, the imperial bee flies to Istanbul to feast on pink Turkish delights and sweet sorbets. Adorned with sparkling jewels and filled with romantic memories, the bee returns to Paris and sits on the petals of four exquisite orchids.”
The 2026 Guerlinade Edition
The 2026 collaboration honors the Guerlinade, the Maison’s proprietary olfactory accord that forms the DNA of all six fragrances in the L’Art & La Matière collection, built around iris, rose, jasmine, vanilla, tonka bean, and bergamot. Begüm Khan‘s new Exceptional Plates, crafted in gold plated bronze and hand set with hundreds of fine stones in her Istanbul workshops, are each produced in 142 copies and designed to adorn the top of the collection’s iconic L’Art & La Matière bottle, with each plate enhancing one of the six raw materials at the heart of the Guerlinade.
The new Exceptional Piece announced by LVMH on April 13 frames the collaboration as an embodiment of living heritage, bringing history and creation into dialogue to offer a tangible, continuing expression of the perfume.
