Art nouveau in porcelain
May 2017
This porcelain portrait pipe represents an elegant female head with a special hairstyle that surrounds the head in a very charming way. A headband with a jewel on the forehead runs around the bowl opening. The stem has been fluted lengthwise. The pipe is made of liquid clay according to the hollow-walled principle, there is a space between the inner bowl and the outer shape where the smoke circulates and can leave moisture and tar substances. The s;ight porosity of the bowl wall in this space stimulates that function. Such designs were popular from the last years of the nineteenth century, especially in parian ware, the soft porous biscuit porcelain characterized by a matte appearance. However, this copy is made somewhat later date and from an ordinary hard porcelain. The white shard was washed with cobalt blue and then covered with a transparent glaze. In terms of modeling, this pipe appears to be from a later date, let’s say the years just after the First World War. You would expect the maker of such a relatively recent piece to be known, but unfortunately, there is no mark or any other reference.
Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 22.275
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