The Assortment of Arend van Dijk, pipemaker in Gouda, Holland

By Don Duco

In the Netherlands the study of the clay tobacco pipe has for too long been preoccupied with the dating of pipes. Dating, with the exact year of manufacture, was the main interest of researchers.

In my latest book De Nederlandse Kleipijp (The Dutch Clay Tobacco Pipe, handbook for dating and determination, Leiden, 1987) I tried to make the case for a new way of using pipe material. It is not the date of the pipe that is of prime importance, but its relationship to the variety of pipes being produced (the ‘production-assortment’), and those in use during a certain period. A precise date can only be obtained from the careful interpretation of the material.

As an example of the production-assortment (pipes of different quality and design produced in one workshop at a particular time) and its value to pipe research I discuss in this article a find from Gouda, Holland. The interpretation shows us how we can learn more about the workshop, the maker and the craft in general.

The material discussed concerns a small dump of wasters brought to the surface some years ago in the center of Gouda, along a former canal called Achter de Vismarkt (behind the fishmarket), no. 88, a house neighbouring the premises of the famous Gouda pipemaker, William Baernelts.

At the back of the former houses about 30 pipe bowls were found together, which had been thrown away as wasters because of mistakes in production or breakage. The shapes of the pipes indicates that this dump dates to the first 30 years of the 18th century. A closer study of the finds gives us an idea of this pipemakers production, and at that particular time he had 6 moulds in use. These moulds cover an assortment of pipe styles as we might expect in the period of time mentioned (Figs. 15-20). Five of the six pipes are of ordinary quality. Their funnel-shaped bowls do not have a pronounced shape and have a small spur on the spot where the bowl joins the stem. We can place this style of bowl under the basic type 2 of the Dutch clay tobacco pipe. Two undecorated pipes (figs. 15 & 16) have a moon on either side of the spur or a moon on one side and a star in the other. For some time these marks were thought to refer to the places of maufacture, for example the moon referred to Krimpen aan de IJssel (Krimpen on the IJssel). In fact, they are really mould marks, small relief marks placed in the pipe mould to distinguish those in use in a factory at a particular time. These small marks meant that the owner of a factory could complain to the right workman about the quality of pipes produced.

The third ordinary quality pipe (Fig. 17) has a cluster of dots on the bowl, thought to represent a Tudor rose. This symbol was used over a long period, mainly because it had a practical use: during smoking the pipe would be less slippery at that spot and would also be less hot because of the relief decoration.

Two better quality ordinary pipes (Figs. 18 & 19) bear a well known and famous decoration. A fisherman is depicted in a sitting position on the left of the bowl, while on the right are three fishes under a crown placed together with three initials. These initials AVD (Fig. 18) refer to the maker Arend van Dijk, while the IDB initials (Fig. 19) indicate Jan de Bock.

The last pipe is of the better to best quality: a fine product with a more balanced funnel shape (Fig. 20), a better example of the basic type 2. Bowl and stem are stroke burnished and the bowl lip has been milled. The maker’s mark is stamped on the heel.

The maker of this assortment of pipes was Arend van Dijk, who we find in the records as the owner of the AVD mark. He proved his mastery of pipemaking in 1699 and used the AVD mark from that time onwards. From the records we only know of this mark uncrowned, the V above the other two initials. However, on the best quality pipes from his factory he used the initial mark as a monogram, surmounted by a crown (Fig. 20), presumably an earlier version of the mark.

In 1714 Van Dijk became the owner of the house Achter de Vismarkt 88, where the pipes were found. In 1736 he sold the house again, but we do not know where he went or whether his factory ceased production. Thanks to the information on the buying and selling of the house we are certain that Van Dijk worked there between 1714 and 1736, which gives us quite an exact date for the dump.

The find discussed here give us information on the Gouda pipe works in general and the factory and workshop of Arend van Dijk in particular. A minimum of 6 pipe moulds in one factory placed Van Dijk among the middle-classed pipemakers. From inventories we know that home-working pipemakers used one vice and one or two moulds. The workshop using between two and five vices with six moulds is more common, as in this case. The largest firma in the first half of the eighteenth century had more that six vices and a mould collection which went up to more than 20 items. The case of Van Dijk is remarkable in that he did not produce the common standard of ‘grove’ pipes or the finer quality ones. We can see from the pipes found that he produced mainly shorter ordinary pipes. The so-called fine and porcelain pipes, which made Gouda the most famous pipe producing center in the world and which were in production from 1680 onwards in growing quantities, are overshadowed by the shorter pipes.

Two reasons can be given for that. Perhaps Van Dijk possessed less scholarly workmen who had less technical knowledge and skill, so that the production of the long-stemmed fine pipes remained almost completely out of his reach. On the other hand it is also possible that his customers were mainly interested in cheap quality pipes. In that case Van Dijk filled a gap in the market because, although there was a great demand for best quality pipes, the tradesmen had an interest in cheap pipes as well. Selling these ‘grove’ pipes was easy, but the production of the ordinary pipes was less attractive for pipemakers. There was however a better chance to find makers who could produce these pipes, but there was severe competition from local makers, so that prices remained at a minimum.

That Van Dijk had an assortment of pipes for all his customers is shown by the one porcelain pipe from the dump. Although this was a product that was less finely finished compared to the best makers of those days, at least he could oblige his customers.

An unsolved problem remains in the decorated bowl bearing the IDB initials, which have no relation to his workshop. It is possible that Van Dijk bought the pipe mould from De Bock or perhaps had the mould on temporary loan from another maker. What is certain is that many more of these temporary loans and contracts were made over and over again, although they were not officially permitted by the laws of the guild. When there was a shortage of demand for a maker he did not hesitate to produce for other makers who had sufficient demand for their pipes. Tools were borrowed and reborrowed and in the most serious cases the owner of a pipe works himself went into the employment of another workshop.

Finally, a note about the dating. Although an exact date is given because of the ownershop of the house by Van Dijk, it is interesting to see the date produced when the pipes are dated by the Friederich formula. The finest bowl measures 41.20.18 and dates at 1736. The ordinary pipes date in their turn between 1713 and 1749. A useful outcome, but when we consider the graph in my book (page 137) it can be seen that 80% of Dutch 18th century pipes are from the first half of that century. In order to prove the lack of value of the Friederich method compared with the logical conclusions reached by studying the pipes and records, it would have been more useful to discuss a waster dump of the second half of the 18th century. Unfortunate, such a dump has not come to light in the past years.

Published in: Society for Clay Pipe Research, Newsletter 18, April 1988, pp. 24-29.

© Don Duco, Pijpenkabinet Foundation, Amsterdam - Holland, 1988.

Illustrations

1. Part of the excavated pipes from the dump of Arend van Dijk, found Achter de Vismarkt in Gouda., the Netherlands, 1715-1735
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413a-m

2. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with spur and straight stem. Spur both sides mould mark half moon in relief. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413h

3. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with spur and straight stem. Spur left side mould mark half moon in relief and right side rosette. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413m

4. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with spur and straight stem. Bowl both sides rose motive with dot shaped leaves. Spur left mould mark half moon in relief, right side rosette. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413g

5. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with spur and straight stem. Bowl left side in relief sitting man fishing, bowl right side under a crown three fishes and initials AVD. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413a

6. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with spur and straight stem. Bowl left side in relief sitting man angling, bowl right side under a crown three fishes and initials IDB. Gouda, Arend van Dijk (or Jan de Bock?), 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413c

7. Funnel shaped pipe bowl (basis shape 2) with heel (and straight stem). Milling round the bowl opening. Bowl and stem stroke burnished. Heel mark AVD monogram crowned. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413d

8. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with cracks. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413k

9. Funnel shaped pipe bowl with cracks. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413i

10. Funnel shaped pipe bowl the opening deformed. Gouda, Arend van Dijk, 1715-1735.
Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 10.413l