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THE MOST IMPORTANT AND EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF TOBACCO PIPES, JARS AND ACCESSORIES 2.500 lots PRIVATE SALE
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The Art of To b a c c o S m o k i n g . When a passion is so great and you are as determined as this collector to create the most important private collection of its kind, you will stop at nothing to possess the most prestigious pipes crafted. A business man living in the Canton of Vaud, he transformed various rooms within his lakeside home to display all that encompassed the art of tobacco smoking. With the means to buy the examples that really took his fancy, his presence in a saleroom was a clear message that he would leave with whatever he had set his heart on. Almost 15 years after his passing, his widow has decided that the collection should be brought back to the world of tobaccology and those hold a passion for this art. Ranging from meerschaum to glassware, this collection of pipes exemplifies the art and craftsmanship that was pipe-making in the Western world over a period of 300 years. The majority of pieces from the collection illustrate the many reference books on the subject, as it boasts the most important and revered pipes that exist anywhere today. So vast is the collection, it holds over 5,000 examples comprising every shape, form, stylistic period, material and origin. In fact, it is considered the most important and extensive tobacco collection in the world today as the majority of the Alfred Dunhill collection also found a new home here with this Swiss collector.
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Meerschaum or E cu m e d e m e r. Requiring a high level of skill in its manipulation and hence being the most sought after of materials, meerschaum was a preferred choice for smokers and pipe collectors. This material was sourced in Turkey and Africa as an alternative to the long, simple, clay pipes used during the 17th century. Though perhaps as fragile, meerschaum was an extremely easy material to carve. Craftsman had to have a steady, meticulous hand to achieve a cleanly sculpted, finished article. They were expensive, status pieces, reserved mainly for the middle and upper classes. The meerschaum pipes in this collection vary from imposing, intricately carved ceremonial centre pieces to the more known Ulm, Kalmasch, Ragoczy and Debrecen pipes with silver mounts, to simple gentlemanly, elegant pieces. The earliest pipes date to the 18th century and feature carvings typical of the period whereas the 19th and 20th century pipes reflect more changeable fleeting fashions for pipe sculpting such as Napoleonic battles, Zouaves, Bonneted ladies, European and American political figures, theatrical characters, mythology, hunting scenes, the Wild West, the Monarchy etc. The carved pipes are individual works of art, to be appreciated for the skill with which they were created as well as for their depiction of the fashions and changing trends and influences as the decades passed. The most impressive pipe is a large reproduction of the marriage between Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, to the Marquis of Lorne in 1871 at Saint George’s Chapel. This work is attributed to Joseph Krammer of Vienna. The size, quality and subject render this pipe one of the most important of the collection and worthy of a place in a museum. The second most notable pipe earns its place through sheer size and anatomical accuracy; being the head of a bull. The detail in the fur and contouring of the bone definition create a true to life impression. The quality of this pipe is further complemented by a set of solid amber horns.
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S t a f fo rd s h i r e a n d ceramic pipes. The first pipes in fashionable 17th century England were made in Bristol and London from clay. They were used to smoke the finer tobacco being imported from the United States. When pipe smoking finally became accessible to other classes of society with a greater import of different tobacco, a broader market for pipes opened up. Here the potteries of Great Britain began making ceramic pipes. In this collection, there is a selection of these more unusual pipes which display a naĂŻve and rustic approach to pipe making. Traditionally by the potters of Northern England, the rather comical and easily recognised Puzzle pipes were considered novelty items and were produced by these manufactories as decorative pieces. The glazes vary from Pearlware, Prattware and Whieldonware and feature mainly knots and spirals with serpent or human head furnaces. Produced mainly in the 18th century, the forms are very simple yet very complicated to make and fire successfully. Despite their simple appearance, their survival over the years as intact pipes has made them a rarity. Some restauration is considered normal and they are sought after by pipe collectors. With around 20 significant ceramic pipes in this collection, two fine examples of 18th century Staffordshire Prattware feature in the photo (cr191-5627).
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B l ow n g l a s s pipes. The few examples of glass pipes exemplify the fashion of glass blowing in the early 19th century to produce decorative items to add colour to relatively dreary interiors. Glass was obviously not ideal for smoking tobacco due to its fragility so their survival intact without restoration is uncommon. The majority of British blown-glass smoking pipes originate from Sunderland, Stourbridge, Newcastle, Shropshire, and Alloa, Scotland in 1820s to 1840s, before briar (wood) pipes became popular. As it became impossible to distinguish the origin, the translucent pot-glass and coloured flint-glass pipes were classed as Nailsea or Bristol glass pipes, accounting for the larger manufactories of the time around Somerset. Other pipes in this material originate from Venice in Murano glass. Due to the manner in which the glass was blown, whether British or Italian, the pipes all share a similar form with tulip furnaces and curved stems decorated with notches in translucent or opaline patterned glass.
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I v o r y, b o n e a n d S i l v e r. Well-known for their carving properties, bone and ivory were also employed for creating pipes. These materials held a certain status and were more rare and difficult to source than the meerschaum pipes. The aesthetic appearance and heat resistance of meerschaum lead to its popularisation in pipe making whereas ivory remained a greater status symbol of the time. The sculpted ivory pipes in this collection show a fine level of craftsmanship in a material that is completely inaccessible today’s world. They are fine examples of the cultural changes that occur over time. Despite using silver as garnitures and mounts for all the different materials used in pipe-making, some actual solid silver pipes exist in the collection. As a precious metal, a pipe smoker holding a silver bowl, furnace and stem certainly gave off an impression of wealth and taste. A silver pipe was indeed an expensive purchase of the time and it was not so common to own one.
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Po rc e l a i n . The collection boasts over 1300 porcelain furnaces of different forms and decoration. These date mainly from the 19th century German and French porcelain manufactories. Military subjects dominate the decoration of these pipes, spanning European history. Hand-painted portraits of Generals and Officers, battles scenes and strongholds from the Franco-Prussian war, the Napoleonic wars and the First World War feature heavily. It was popular to commemorate important military figures, members of the Royal and Imperial households and loved ones by means of their portrait painted on a white porcelain pipe. This flattery often went further by the pipe actually being a three-dimensional representation of the person, or taken further to create a painted caricature. The more collectable of the porcelain pipes are those whose furnaces are in the form of groups or figurines. Orientalism also features in the decoration of pipes by means of depicting exotic ladies and gentlemen, the likes of whom you would not have encountered unless you belonged to academic circles or were well-travelled. As pipe-smoking was a very gentlemanly pass-time, beautiful women were often preferred subjects for decoration. Finely moulded pipes depicting delicately painted ladies were very popular. Whether your passion was hunting, your loyal dog or your favourite horse, animals also feature in the popular decoration of porcelain pipes.
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T h e B r i a r p i p e. The discovery of a wood known as briar root transformed pipe-smoking and further popularised the habit. As a hard and dense material that could be rendered heat-resistant, it was ideal for pipes. Little cleaning was required and the taste of the tobacco remained pure. Although novelty meerschaum pipes remained available on the market through the 20th century, the more versatile briar pipes began to increase in demand as an efficient, low maintenance vessel. Cigarettes and cigars were ever more popular and these wooden bowl pipes offered an attractive, resistant alternative to the other more delicate materials.
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This avid collector further complimented his western Tobacco pipe collection with ceremonial and ritual smoking accessories to more simple everyday items such as the 400 or so tobacco jars. Such was the popularity of tobacco, the jars became novelty items and evolved from the standard barrel shapes to take on many different political, satirical, enthic, animalistic and domestic forms. This collection boasts an example from almost all the varieties available and encompasses popular culture and changing tastes through the ages of tobacco smoking.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE OTHER ELEMENTS OF THIS COLLECTION PLEASE CONTACT:
Bernard Piguet CEO bpiguet@piguet.com
Christina Robinson Auctioneer and Valuer crobinson@piguet.com
Fabrice Van Rutten Specialist Valuer fvanrutten@piguet.com
+41 22 320 11 77
PRICE ON REQUEST —17
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