[Marcel PROUST]. Sachet of Fleurs & Fantaisies japonaises opening in water, in its original illustrated envelope. [In April 1904, Proust thanked Marie Nordlinger "for the marvellous and hidden flowers which have enabled me this evening to 'make a spring' as Madame de Sévigné says, a fluvial and harmless spring. Thanks to you, my electric darkroom has had its Far Eastern springtime"...] The allusion to these flowers can be found towards the end of the first chapter of Du côté de chez Swann, in connection with the madeleine dipped in the cup of tea: "And just as in that game in which the Japanese amuse themselves by dipping into a porcelain bowl filled with water, small pieces of paper, hitherto indistinct, which, as soon as they are dipped in, stretch, curve, colour, differentiate themselves, become flowers, houses, consistent and recognisable characters, so now all the flowers in our garden and those in M. Swann's park, and the nymphs, and the flowers of the garden, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs, and the nymphs. Swann's park, and the water lilies in the Vivonne, and the good people of the village and their little dwellings and the church and the whole of Combray and its surroundings, all that which takes shape and solidity, has come, town and gardens, out of my cup of tea."