Stark naked of every stitch of cloth or of tanned skins, oiled with an unguent carrying a dull red stain, their heads shaved bare save for a small crown patch from which single feathers floated, they symbolized well the warrior stripped for the fray.
... but, before we left the treasure-house wherein stood ranged thousands of golden vessels, exquisite in shape and workmanship, the Darwaysh went into a hidden chamber and brought from out a silvern casket a little golden box full of some unguent, which he showed to me, and then he placed it in his pocket.
Richard Burton, Supplemental Nights, volume 3. Amazon
A masseuse covered me in a paste of blue azulene made from German camomile. Then - with only my head and feet sticking out - I was sandwiched prone in a giant mussel shell called an aromatherapy steam capsule that baked in the unguent.
Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, 27 February 2005. New York Times
There's the tall tale of the woman who ordered a Chicken McSandwich without mayonnaise, and wasn't overly disturbed when she bit into the thing and felt some warm unguent spilling over her tongue. Next day, of course, she was hospitalised and stomach-pumped, having ingested a pus-filled cyst that somehow survived processing to be smothered in golden batter.
Matthew Sweet, The Independent, 29 January 2004. The Independent