Lot Details
Lot 244
Two Staffordshire Pearlware Novelty Pipes
Circa 1800
Length of longest 13 inches; Together with a Staffordshire Pearlware Martha Gunn Pipe, height 4 5/8 inches.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, Staffordshire potters began to create playful puzzle and novelty pipes. These fanciful pipes were much more than a smoking essential; they were more imaginative and artistic than they were practical. They could be elaborately scrolled showpieces or modeled as well-known figures. These intricate and colorful pipes served to highlight the potter's skill in handling clay, and were highly decorative ornaments on a chimney piece.
This group of Three Staffordshire Pearlware Novelty Pipes, one of which is a coiled snake seen consuming a bowl with the mouthpiece as the tail end of the snake. In Old English Pipes, printed in the 1906 September issue of The Connoisseur, M.H.H. Macartney comments that "looking at examples from this period it is hard to believe that these pipes were made for actual use" . While it was possible to smoke through these forms, the pipes were fragile and it would have proved difficult to clean them after use.
The figural pipe showing a seated woman, with a fish handle, is of the famous Regency period "dipper" Martha Gunn. Hailed as "the Venerable Priestess of the Bath", Gunn would take bathers in and out of the waters in Brighton in small wooden crates pulled by horses. Gunn kept bathers afloat, pushed them through the waves, and assisted them back to the bathing machines to pull them ashore. As sea bathing became more popular, so did Gunn, with her dipping career spanning over sixty years. She was an early 19th century celebrity and a favorite of George IV.
These pipes have had long lives because they were meant to be showpieces, rarely if ever smoked, and kept on display, waiting to be the center of conversation. While smoking from a three coiled snake, a seahorse, or a Martha Gunn may prove to be difficult, what is undeniable is their appealing style and form. Whether placed on your mantle or laid on a coffee table, these pipes are sure to capture the attention of many. With their lively colors and recognizable subjects these novelty pipes make a great addition to a current collection or the start of a new one.
C
Additional Notes & Condition Report
Snake: mouth piece has been broken and repaired
Martha Gunn in good condition
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