A figure pipe as a portrait bust

April 2013

Duméril Leurs from Saint-Omer in France brought a set of pipe bowls on the market shortly after 1850 of a drinking man and a smiling woman, unmistakably a couple. A special feature of this set is that the pipe bowls are provided with a circular base on the underside so that they can stand as small busts. An invention that points to curiosities rather than practical use. The man's pipe bowl was added to our collection as early as 1980; finding the woman would not succeed. Recently the missing woman from the famous French collection of Daniel Mazaleyrat was purchased and we can finally show the set. Unlike the man, the woman, with loose hair and largely bared breasts, was popular. Perhaps that challenging image was the intention. The bowls are provided with shape numbers 1671 and 1673 and you immediately wonder what pipe bowl was placed on model number 1672. It is remarkable that both pipes are smoked and that undermines the idea that they are purely for ornamental purposes. Evidently, they are used as smoking implements, although the pipe, when fitted with a stem, will be out of balance and can no longer stand, so that the design is not really functional.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 21.539

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