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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Tobacco pipe, large meerschaum bowl carved as head and bust of young woman, possibly Empress Josephine, horn and flexible tube stem, French or Austrian, 1810-1840
The young woman’s headdress can removed to place shredded tobacco into the bowl, which would then be lit and the smoke inhaled through the flexible tube stem and horn mouthpiece. The bowl is carved from meerschaum, a versatile clay like material.
It is thought that the woman pictured may be Napoleon I’s wife, Josephine (1763-1814). Josephine married Napoleon in 1796, and was Empress of France from 1804 until her divorce in 1809.
Details
- Category:
- Smoking
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A653265
- Materials:
- bowl, meerschaum, lid and mounts, brass (silvered), stem, horn and stem, hose, flexible
- Measurements:
-
overall: 200 mm x 190 mm x 360 mm, 25 mm, .75kg
- type:
- tobacco pipe
- credit:
- Carbins, G.F.
