Hand with pipe

October 2006

This pipe is a wonderful object between an ordinary consumer item and a sculpture. Horizontally we see a simple clay pipe with a straight stem. The pipe bowl is decorated with a geometric border along the bowl opening, a thick band of rolls and a crown on either side of it. The clay pipe is held by a human hand, loosely with two fingers on and two fingers under the stem. Downwards this hand turns into an oval-shaped cuff that broadens into a simple pedestal. A curious pipe, therefore, and rather a showpiece than a smoker’s utensil, although the pipe can certainly be smoked. The object was pressed in a two-part mould and covered with a brown salt glaze after a biscuit fire. This kind of pipe goes by for Wieldon ware, named after a famous ceramist. As so often, that is an indication for the collector, because it is highly questionable whether the brilliant potter Thomas Wieldon has had anything to do with this object. Rather, it will be stoneware from a London factory or from another English production site where this brown glazed good was made en masse. The collective name London saltglazed might therefore be a better designation.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 18.097

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