Figuratively decorated tobacco jar

avril 2026

For the smoker, the tobacco jar has always been an important item. He stored his tobacco in it so that it would not dry out or become dusty. There are therefore hundreds of different types of tobacco jars. A popular invention from the nineteenth century was the figurative tobacco jar made of cast ceramics. They were mainly made in large Bohemian and Austrian ceramic companies. In addition to being a utilitarian item, they also served as decoration for the home and even as a collector's item. The depicted tobacco jar is one such decorative and utilitarian item, made of fine clay, cast in a plaster mold. The design is completely figurative, with the pot in the shape of a lying piece of tree trunk and the lid knob a black man smoking from a long gesteck pipe. He has all the characteristics of a nineteenth-century German-speaking student in party attire: white trousers in high riding boots, jacket and a specific hat, called Tönnchen or beer barrel. The giant beer mug or Stein between his legs is also indispensable for students from the German-speaking area. Now, it was of course unthinkable at the time that a Black African could be a student. So it cannot be otherwise than that this depiction is meant as a joke, or even as a mockery of the negro.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 30.549

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