Unknown politician

January 2014

The pipe discussed here represents a reclining Janklaassen figure or Punch, facing to the left with the eye on the smoker. The depicted figure with hisupwardly curved nose wears a hat with an small brim and is dressed in a short jacket and striped pants. He holds up the right leg, the left forms the stem of the pipe and ends in a pointed mouthpiece. A wooden leg is suggested in this way. The product was made in a two-part press mould, the mould seams can still be seen along the outer edge. After baking, the pipe is covered with multicolour paint in blue, red, cream and black. Maker is James Wyse from Glasgow, who put such pipes on the market in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Many of his portrayals have a relationship with the local politics of that time, although we can no longer understand the meaning. This also applies for this pipe. Wyse must have made a huge number of such pipes, otherwise there would not be copies left in collections nowadays.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 21.774

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