Meissen porcelain stummel tobacco pipe

Tobacco pipe with wooden stem and porcelain bowl. The aesthetics of the piece are very reminiscent of the style popularized by the German manufacture of Meissen.

It was the first European factory to produce authentic porcelain. The manufacture was started by the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tchirnhaus in 1708, and after his untimely death his work was continued by Joahnn Friedrich Böttger, who remained practically imprisoned on the factory premises in order to protect the secret of the porcelain formula. Meissen porcelain production began in 1710, one year after the manufactory was founded by Augustus the Strong, and soon achieved great fame throughout Europe.

The most famous shape of the porcelain tobacco pipe is the so-called stummel, an oval bowl with a domed heel and a short mouthpiece. The shape was copied from the Gouda clay pipe, but the assembly is completely different, as a long porcelain mouthpiece is not possible. Therefore, these pipes were placed in a buffalo horn or porcelain humidity chamber and then mounted with a vertical mouthpiece of wood or horn. The stummel is well suited for painting and it is amazing the level of development that painting on porcelain has reached.

Since its inception in 1780, meticulous paintings were created, all by hand. Subjects include portraits, gallant depictions, topography and historical scenes. The Meissen factory seems to be the pioneer in the creation of these painted bowls, characterized by endless tufts applied with a fine brush. At the Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur in Berlin, the painting was done with even more realistic realism, resulting in impressive miniature paintings on bowls.