Extra Large Figural Block Meerschaum Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

I’ve said before that the closest analog to meerschaum carving in fine art (as traditionally defined) is sculpture. More specifically, its closest analog is subtractive sculpture, such as in the medium of marble. A question I’ve sometimes wondered, however, is of which period in the history of sculpture that meerschaum carving would be analogous to. With many meerschaum pipes the guiding motif is the bust, which is a fairly constant one across the history of fine art, whereas designs as intricate and—more importantly—lively as this one appear to have one very specific precedent: the Baroque. More dynamic, even Dionysian, than its Renaissance counterpart, Baroque sculpture was very much home to scenes similar to this one, and which also become more detailed and vibrant the more one examines them.

As for who carved this pipe, and when, that’s a tricky question. As the pipe has no maker’s identification, putting a name to it is not possible, which would have also helped with dating it. The fact that the pipe has a vulcanite stem with a push tenon system, rather than the two-part nylon tenon and mortise that is typical for meerschaum pipes, along with the style of the case, has me thinking this is an early- to mid-20th century pipe. I would also estimate that it is European-made, probably from Austria, Europe’s one-time capital of meerschaum carving. I have to wonder whether the choice of stem material and tenon style was a direct transposition from the vulcanite-stemmed briars of that period.

-J.M.

This pipe is completely unsmoked and comes with its original case.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 1.10 / 27.94mm

Bowl Depth: 1.7″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 3.4oz / 98g