Modern wood pipe with negroes

juin 2004

This remarkable tobacco pipe shows an interesting mix of a European shape with an African decoration. It was made in Tanzania in the years that meerschaum was mined there and even a pipe factory was founded. This happened on the initiative of the British, who encountered problems in Turkey with the purchase of raw meerschaum. The pipe factory arose in Arusha and was named Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation Ltd. Pipes were made to the English taste, but it was not surprising that decorations from African culture were incorporated as well under the influence of local workers. This pipe is a good example of this intercultural mix. A local type of wood is used, which is more flammable than the briar and therefore the bowl is covered on the inside with meerschaum paste. The outside was decorated with two Negro figures according to local traditions. In accordance with puritan English custom, they are seen from the back and wear a loincloth. The carving of the figures shows a remarkably smooth relief that runs around the bowl very rhythmically and only shows the figuration in the second instance. A white elephant was used as a factory mark, stamped in the caoutchouc mouthpiece. The dating of this attractive pipe is in the 1970s.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 17.370a

Archives des objets du mois