Figural porcelains

Most sought after by collectors are figural porcelain pipes. Already in the 1730, shortly after the European invention of the porcelain technique, the first designs appear. The master-modeller of the famous Meissen factory, Johann Joachim Kändler, made one of the most striking examples. His pipe bowl with a lion is his earliest figural product, dated 1738.

The Turkish heads, male and female, both with elaborate turbans, were particularly popular. Expensive gifts at the time, these pipes are very rare nowadays and by consequence high priced.

In course of the nineteenth century the quality of the porcelain pipe declines. Production quantities and competition are both growing. The modelling is no longer refined while the paintings become less naturalistic and subtle. A few manufacturers continue to make examples of fine portrait bowls and delicate figural pipes, but most of the pipes on the market are coarse in shape, crude in painting and vulgar in theme. Especially the animal bowls showing frogs, squirrels, foxes, elephants etc. become popular, although now regarded as super kitsch.

Circa 1900 the figural pipe disappears from the market. The final creations are meant to be smoked in the pub among soldiers or workmen. These bowls are dedicated to drinking and beer. An example shows a man under a barrel, drinking from the tap. Another depicts a low-necked dress woman serving a bunch of beer jugs.

 rade lionsfigure modelled by Johann Joachim Kändler, Meissen, Germany, 1738 Oriental lady in a turban, silver lid with a rubin, Königlichen Sächsischen Porzellan-Manufaktur, Meissen, Germany, 1760-1775
bust of a lawyer, the stub showing a snake, Germany, 1840-1880
gipsy woman with lace cap, the lid and stemholder in silver, Limbach, Germany, 1770-1780
figural pipebowl of a standing man, Germany, 1850-1880
portrait pipe showing the bust of Frederick II of Prussia, Meissen, Germany, 1820-1830
figural pipebowl of a standing man, Germany, 1850-1880
figural pipebowl as a sitting fox, Germany, 1790-1830 pipe bowl shaped as a sitting bear, Volkstedt, Germany, 1775-1790
unusual pipebowl in the shape of an elephant, Germany, 1880-1900
a salesman carrying his goods on his back, Bohemian, Germany, 1830-1850
sitting guitarsplaier, Bohemian, Germany, 1830-1860
remarkable combination of a sitting goat and the head of a man, Germany, 1840-1860
figural pipe represeneting a sitting cat, Bohemian, Germany, 1820-1840
on the lid of this pipe bowl an old man looking at a your couple, Germany, 1860-1880
pipe bowl modeled after a French Gambier, Germany, 1860-1880
figural the bowl shaped as a sitting dog, Bohemien, Germany, 1840-1870
the bowl of the pipe shaped as a parrot with colourfull painting, Bohemian, Germany, 1880-1900
theme drinking: a man drinking from the tap of a barrel, Bohemian, Germany, 1890-1910
bust of a military man with fur hat, Bohemian, Germany, 1880-1900
woman on a barrel, holding beer tankards, Bohemian, Germany, 1890-1910
porcelain pipe in biscuit the bowl showing a man's head with rimmed hat, Germany, 1860-1880
All objects on this page are part of collections of the Museum Pijpenkabinet, Amsterdam. © copyright Pijpenkabinet