Smoking from a nun's head

September 2009

The appearance of this sturdy portrait pipe in meerschaum is really unusual. Overall, the pipe has a straight stemmed shape with a long tige and short amber mouthpiece. This is not common, because almost all meerschaum tobacco pipes were made with bent stems in those days. This curved shape says something about the friendly atmosphere that the smoker wanted to convey with his pipe. This unusual shape is much more austere and explicit in the smoker's silhouette. In addition, this pipe has an unusual representation. Depicted is a nun with a friendly and devout face and a beautiful folded hood on the head, a cross round her neck. The figure is serene in appearance, quite appropriate for a nun, but at the same time it is a large and robust pipe with a very dominant and explicit subject. Not unlikely, seen the shape of the pipe and the effect of the carving, this is a pipe made in a French workshop. A hypothesis that we may be able to answer someday with certainty, if more research has been done into the local pipe carvers.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 19.903

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