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Lot Essay
The form of this pipe can be compared to long-stemmed cylindrical Ottoman Turkish pipes with circular base (chibouk) which suggests that perhaps it was made for export to the Ottoman market. The elaborately carved wooden base with extravagant gold ornamentation indicates that it was probably made for use by an aristocrat or a nobleman.
According to the German anthropologist, Berthold Laufer, tobacco was transported from Lisbon and introduced to Asia in the seventeenth century by Portuguese vessels. Europeans in Asia smoked tobacco through pipes usually made of clay. Clay pipes were stored and carried in purpose-made long-stemmed pipe cases of lacquer, tortoise-shell, ebony and ivory. These pipes and pipe-cases are usually attributed to Dutch production. (Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, 2002, pp. 50-51). A late 17th century, carved ebony pipe case with silver terminals in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was initially thought to be of Indo-Portuguese manufacture, now has a revised attribution to having been made under Dutch patronage (inv.no. W.145-1928). There appear to be no known early precedents for our extraordinary example. The wooden base of the our pipe, carved in the form of a mythical being with half woman and half scrolling foliate form, the forms also echoed around the circular bowl, is reminiscent of the supporting legs seen on late 17th century Indo-Portuguese cabinet on stands (contador). These sculptural legs often assume a variety of human and zoomorphic forms. For an example of an Indo-Portuguese cabinet with legs in the form of stylised female figures, see lot 73 in this sale.
According to the German anthropologist, Berthold Laufer, tobacco was transported from Lisbon and introduced to Asia in the seventeenth century by Portuguese vessels. Europeans in Asia smoked tobacco through pipes usually made of clay. Clay pipes were stored and carried in purpose-made long-stemmed pipe cases of lacquer, tortoise-shell, ebony and ivory. These pipes and pipe-cases are usually attributed to Dutch production. (Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, 2002, pp. 50-51). A late 17th century, carved ebony pipe case with silver terminals in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was initially thought to be of Indo-Portuguese manufacture, now has a revised attribution to having been made under Dutch patronage (inv.no. W.145-1928). There appear to be no known early precedents for our extraordinary example. The wooden base of the our pipe, carved in the form of a mythical being with half woman and half scrolling foliate form, the forms also echoed around the circular bowl, is reminiscent of the supporting legs seen on late 17th century Indo-Portuguese cabinet on stands (contador). These sculptural legs often assume a variety of human and zoomorphic forms. For an example of an Indo-Portuguese cabinet with legs in the form of stylised female figures, see lot 73 in this sale.