For now, this page focuses on extant examples of pomanders; while many portraits show pomanders worn at the end of a girdle (as in the portrait of Anne Fernely, 1564), sometimes it's hard to tell whether it's a pomander or just a fancy tassel or similar ornament. (For another nifty and clearly-a-pomander example from portraiture, there's also this portrait of a man by Jacob Cornelisz von Oostsanen, c. 1518.)
From the 16th century descriptions, it appears that "pomander" can be the term for the actual scented stuff (and can, in fact, refer to scented beads, as "a cheyne of pomaindes, with buttons of silver betwene" and "a cheyne of pomaunder with a verey small ragged perle" in the New Year's Gifts to Queen Elizabeth, 1577-8), or the fancy container for the scented stuff.
Pomander, Italy, 14th century; silver with gilding and niello
About the bordyre of the seid couche were xij appuls callid pomendambres, wrought withouten curiously of gold, garnysht of mugles and alle othir precious sauours of muskis recensitiues and restoratiues.
Pomander in the shape of a death's-head (skull), 16th century (see also these photos for a similar pomander, including how it opened and its inscription, as well as a portrait in which a similar pomander appears)
