Napoleon pipes

25 July 2021

Recently two pipes were placed in the temporary display case in the centre of our museum, so large that they fill the cabinet almost completely. Two monumental meerschaum pipes made in honour of Napoleon, both depicting the Emperor himself. They are a grateful subject during the museum tour, because each pipe bowl gives a different picture of the French emperor. One, according to the silver mark, dates from 1807, just after the campaign in which the Prussians were defeated. The scene with the Emperor on horseback is elaborated in great detail with his turbaned valet and bodyguard Roustam and fighters on the French and Prussian side around him. The other is much coarser and dates from the Second Empire around 1840. Here we see Napoleon in action, lighting the fuse of a large cannon himself. Even the lid shows the portrait of the emperor  in a meerschaum medallion.

Article on Japanese smoking paraphernalia

19 July 2021

Published on the web this week, a new article by Don Duco. It concerns a sketch of the special smoking utensils from Japan, written on the basis of the collection of our museum. Not only the characteristic Japanese pipes are discussed, but especially the pipe holders or kiseruzutsu with accompanying tobacco boxes and tobacco pouches. More than eighty photos provide a cross-section of the objects that were so familiar to the Japanese for a long time and have now fallen out of use. An interesting anthology about a consumer article that has remained virtually out of the picture in the Dutch tobacco literature. Fortunately, this article now changes that.

Progression in photos

4 July 2021

It's been a year since we updated our photo collection on the web in this series. In July 2020, it was the milestone of 170,000 unique images. Today, almost a year later, the counter passed the next five thousand! A small difference in percentage, but again a more impressive number. Describing and photographing our collection has become an essential task behind the scenes. The silence and months of closure of our museum because of Corona made us progress in this. If you look at the website more often, you will certainly spot the additions, because there are countless never-before-seen acquisitions, some of which make a splashing impression.