Female nude under the moon

février 2009

This meerschaum cigar holder is of interest in various respects. In addition to a beautiful patina and a good piece of carving, the subject in particular is remarkable. The portrayal of naked women was popular but not always unspoken. For the carvers it took a lot of craftsmanship to come up with an attractive result. As a matter of fact, that aspect has been successful here. The naked woman is depicted here in combination with the moon which probably refers to a well-known eighteenth-century chanson entitled Au clair de la lune. As we can see, the designer had to struggle with the final design. The standing woman and the moon fit well together in terms of shape, but for a proper connection from the cigar tip to the stem it was necessary to leave some meerschaum between the moon and the woman to allow the airflow to run through. This has led to a somewhat unclear zone in the depiction, consisting of a kind of tree trunk and some foliage that is not really functional in the scene. The pipe is mounted with a fairly strong bended amber stem that counterbalances the C-shape of the moon.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 19.498

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