German Porcelain Hunter Pipe Gesteckpfeife, Painted Fox Winter Scene, Lidded Bowl, Wood Stem

A red fox steps through snow between dark winter trees, painted around a white porcelain bowl under a hinged metal lid. This is a traditional German hunter's pipe, a Gesteckpfeife, made of several pieces that come apart: the painted bowl, a white porcelain reservoir, a long wood stem and a bent black mouthpiece.

The lid has a ring of round openings and a pierced top, and it closes with a small catch above a ribbed metal band at the rim. A braided cord hangs from the catch, and a pale tassel is tied near the mouthpiece end of the stem. Where the wood stem fits into the reservoir, its end is covered in cork. No maker's stamp is on the pipe and no date is given for it. Please see the photographs for its condition.

Pipes like this one go by two German names: Gesteckpfeife, the composite pipe, put together from parts, and Jägerpfeife, the hunter's pipe. Their roots are in the Alps, in Bavaria and in the Black Forest. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they spread widely, both as a sign of status and as part of everyday popular culture.

The heart of the design is the reservoir, the Abguss. It is a ceramic base, and the mouthpiece side of the pipe is attached to it. Moisture and tar from the smoke collect there as in a trap, and so they do not reach the mouth. In the past some smokers put a little wine into the reservoir to flavor the smoke. The stems of these pipes are long, often of cherry wood (Weichselholz) or of deer or elk antler, and some were flexible or wrapped in colorful braided threads and cords that end in tassels.

The paintings on these porcelain bowls show German wildlife and German life. Hunting and nature scenes are the best known: deer, elk, wild boar, foxes and hunting dogs in the forest, the world of the Jäger. Other pipes were made as Reservistenpfeife, commemorative pipes for army officers that carry dates, coats of arms and the names of battalions. Others again show social life, such as men in traditional Bavarian dress, or landscapes with cafes and bars. A fox in a snowy forest places this bowl among the hunting and nature scenes.

Porcelain smokes differently from briar or pure clay. It is a neutral material and gives no taste of its own to the tobacco. It does ask for care, because porcelain is fragile: let the bowl cool completely, then clean it gently, so that the carbon inside does not expand and crack the porcelain. The chamber of this bowl is 19 mm wide and 69 mm deep.

THE MARKS
- No maker's stamp

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 275 mm (10.83 in)
- Bowl height: 69 mm (2.72 in)
- Bowl width: 35 mm (1.38 in)
- Chamber diameter: 19 mm (0.75 in)
- Chamber depth: 69 mm (2.72 in)
- Weight: 96 g (3.39 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 599