Dutch painting on a pipe

avril 2006

The ceramic pipe as developed by the Gouda factories between the two world wars gradually became souvenir items. It was soon discovered that an appropriate tourist painting or transfer gave enhanced the sales. In addition, souvenir painting became an important item for export. The Holland pipe became a coveted article in America but also in other countries. A special design is this multi-coloured pipe, which shows details of two paintings by the Haarlem painter Frans Hals on the bowl. One side shows the cheerful drinker, the portrait on the other most closely resembles one of the woman regents of the Haarlem Elderly home. Both portraits are placed in a leaf wreath. The remaining part of the ceramic is filled with stylized leaf work with the inscription Holland on the underside of the stem. The pipe was then washed green. The design for these pipes, which is in keeping with the swirling style of Frans Hals, was done by Willem van Norden, the versatile designer of the Royal Goedewaagen. However, sticking the colourful transfers and then painting in turned out to be a time-consuming affair resulting in a sales price of these pipes that was in fact too high. As a result production was limited and only a few were sold.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 17.775

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