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Meerschaum with four horses

At first glance this meerschaum pipe it not extremely special, but it is characterised by a special history. The so-called sack-shape, a slightly heavy lower part of the bowl with round bottom, originates from the late 18th century and during the entire nineteenth century this shape stayed popular. The qualities of the meerschaum however vary from the best, lightweight and highly absorbing to more heavy, vaster meerschaum not with particular smoking qualities. For this pipe, the best and most beautiful meerschaum is used. The bowl was namely meant to be mounted with luxurious silverwork.

The most skilful gold- and silversmith D. L'Honorey, having his workshop at the Quai des Orfèvres in Paris, got in 1807 a special request straight from the emperor Napoleon I. Honorey should design and execute a gift to be presented by Napoleon himself to his chief-officer that conquered the town of Venice shortly before. As an honour to his emperor the four horses, for ages exhibited on the San Marco church, were taken and brought to Paris as a gift to the emperor.

Theme of the present should be the symbol of Venice, the four horses of the San Marco. So L'Honorey designed a pipe cover in the shape of a military helmet, placing the four animals next to each other on the top of the lid. The design was not only beautiful, also the execution was most skilful. The lid being tall and heavy needed also to serve in technical point of view. It had to be fixed properly on the bowl during the use, but also needed to open easily when the pipe should be filled or lighted. To realise this L'Honorey used a double hinge with a clever closing mechanism. A finger push on the vizier makes this slide up and thereafter in four steps the lid opens up completely. Each step making the bowl opening further free, till it is completely open. To embellish the result, parts of the silverwork were gilt. A case maker applied a well suiting case with white velvet and white silk in the interior, red leather from the outside, tooled with gilt stamps along the edges. Three hooks served to close the case properly.

The minimal traces of burning inside the pipe bowl makes us believe that the chief-officer was not really a pipe smoker. The pipe has not been used but a few times and thanks to the cover it was carefully kept in perfect condition. It is unknown who owned this imperial gift after the death of the chief-officer during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Anyhow, the item entered the Paris antique trade in 1982 and is since that time in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 16.425