Pure Louis XVI

September 2020

On this fabulous pipe with personnel crest, all style features are truly Louis XVI. This not only applies to the various parts, such as the palette and pearl lining, but to the overall effect. The Louis Seize style period is characterized by an exceptionally subtle way in which ornaments relate to each other. Simplicity, order and symmetry, but at the same time strong in detail. We see that purity in optima forma in this pipe bowl. However, the effect is quite unusual. When looking for comparable pieces in literature, one hardly encounters anything similar. The question arises whether we are dealing with a genuine eighteenth century item or an object from the second period, sometime in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. In one case it concerns the prehistory of the meerschaum pipe, in the latter it is yet another example from the time of mass production. What advocates an eighteenth century carver are the exact style features. Above that there is the silver mounting. The cap lid clamps around a ring. Every smoker knows that such a lid will easily fall off the pipe, which is why a lid with a hinge soon comes standard. The dog on the lid is also subtle, an earlier rather than late characteristic. Unfortunately, the stamped silver hall marks on the lid do not offer a key to dating. For the time being I dare to see an authentic late eighteenth-century piece in this pipe, a rare object.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 24.020

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