Wonderful Kiseru

4 octobre 2025

Over the next few months, we'll be displaying a bizarre pipe in our center display case: a recently acquired ceramic kiseru with colourful painting. It's an unmistakably Japanese pipe with an extremely thick stem, but a standard-sized bowl and mouthpiece. This thick stem allows for extra smoke circulation and thus perfectly cooled smoke—a prerequisite for porcelain smoking. The colourful painting à la Japonaise, in fashionable colours dominated by red and turquoise is remarkable. The bowl and stem are elegantly decorated with gold lacquer. This showy pipe surfaced in Düsseldorf, but the owners knew nothing about its provenance. It's not often that we, too, couldn't pinpoint its exact origin. Perhaps one of our visitors knows its provenance or maker. The object will remain on display until the end of the year.

Nouvelles archives