PLANCHE

L’horloge inscrite sons ce premier numéro, fui construite par Louis David, artiste renommé de l’époque de Henri III. Sa forme est quadrangulaire ; elle est en bronze doré à l’or moulu. Les quatre faces ont reçu de précieuses gravures représentant des amours, des Faunes se jouant au milieu des rinceaux, des fleurs et des fruits formant des guirlandes finement dessinées, et burinées avec cette élégance dans les contours qui caractérise particulièrement les maîtres graveurs de la renaissance. Au centre des quatre faces sont des jnédaillons en argent fin sur lesquels on distingue les évangélistes saint Paul, saint Matthieu, saint Marcel saint Luc; ces gravures sont également très-fines, et l’argent mal des médaillons s’harmonise bien avec l’or des parties latérales. Sur les angles de ce petit monument sont des cariatides qui soutiennent l'entablement. Une coupole découpée à jour couronne l'œuvre : des figures et divers autres ornements y sont représentés ; le sommet de cette jolie coupole supporte le cadran de l'horloge; c'est une petite rondelle en argent émaillée de plusieurs couleurs parmi lesquelles dominent le jaune et le vert.

La plaque du dessous de l’horloge offre une scène curieuse et caractéristique : au centre est un ministre protestant faisant tourner une meule de grès d'assez grande dimension; un pape, revêtu de ses habits pontificaux, se tient courbé devant cette meule, il est entouré par une foule de personnages dont le plus remarquable est le roi de Navarre qui, plus tard, doit abjurer le culte évangélique et occuper le Irène de France. Sur les derniers plans, à droite de l’observateur, sont quelques vieilles femmes qui pleurent en regardant le souverain pontife et la meule. Ce sujet s’explique, c'est une virulente satire contre le pape ; les huguenots lui fout user ou rogner

Tobacco Pipes

No. XXI.— CROUP OF PIPES PROBABLY LEE US

C1RCA 1825-50

produced during the last décade o( the eighteenth century, ami during the first quarter of that which followed, numerous cxotic varictics of pipes in glazcd brown stoncwarc William Bragge obtained seventeen different varieties from Brampton for hU own colla tion ; and, despite the ail too brief descriptions in his catalogue, similar examples arc casily recogrused when they turn up. A duplicatc of onc of the varieties obtained by Bragge is illustrated in No. xvi. The fantastical costume in w-hkh the little figure is dresscd forbids any attempt at accu rate dating. Pcrsonally, I should be tempted to asenbe ît to the last décade of the eightccnth ccn ury, in which case it is probably the work of the Walton Pottery cstablishcd by William Briddon in 1790.

The “ hand and pipe ’* motive, which appears in Xo. xviii.. is a familiar onc to collectons of riirtora nicotiaita. During tho latter part of the eightccnth century it frcqucntly forms the basic motive of a pipe stopper. Pipes of this design wcrc apparcntly made by two fac tories. In stoncwarc, with a lustrons reddishhrown glazc, they were produced at Brarapton between 1790 and 1810, and though I know of no marked spécimens, they may perhaps be assigned. like the preceding pipe, to the “ Wallon Pottery.” Among the seventeetl brown glazcd stoncwarc pipes obtained by Brugge from Brampton was an examplc of the “ hand and pipe ” variety. together with a pipe formed as a rocumbent figure, possibly intended for an old soldicr. with a wooden Icg. Both types are illustrated in The Connoisseur for 1906 (Vol. xvi.. p. 15. there No. vi.). and it is possible that thèse cxamples are thosc formerly *n the Brugge collection. Not ail thèse ** hand and pipe ” pipes are Brampton stoneware. Many examplc*.

coloured and glazcd. arc unqucstionably of Staffordshire makc.

A second variety of Staffordshire make l»cars. like the example illustrated. a crimson heart in the palm of the

hand. There can be very little doubt that thèse pipes were made for the Ancicnt Order of Oddfellows. whose ** most important and beat preserved symbol ” was the llcart in Hand. cmblem of any act of kindness. IVopcrlv. the fingers should be extended. An examplc from the same mouhl as the above is in the Willett collection. And another was in the Brugge collection (Catalogue No. A.c. 24).

The four-bowlcd pipe illustrated in No. xxii. has every appearancr of being of Staffordshire makc. It is 15 niches long : and. apart from its unusual construction, it possesses documentant interest in the shape of the date. 1819. incised on the upper surface of the broad shoulder from which the four pipe bowls spring The practice of smoking two. three or more blêmis of tobacco in separate bowls is, or was in the nineteenth century. fairlv general in Southern Rusaia. But the practice in Kngland must hâve been an uncommon one ; though Staffordshire " snake pipes," similar to No. »., with threc or four bowls. and straight pipes, similar to No. xxii , with three, fivc and seven bowls, are not unknown.

The last group of pipes (No. xxi.), on the évidence of their fashion. potting. gla2ing and the range of colours variegated brow r ns, greens and yellows — employed in their décoration must bc attributed to one factory From their ou tlines. they must be ascribcd to the second quarter and the mkldle of the nineteenth century, a date which cffcctually négatives the suggestion, put forward by a recent writer upon pipes, that they are Whicldon {1740-30}. And they are. furthermorc. too Ute m style to be the work of Dunderdale of Castleford, near Leeds (1790-1820). The posai bilitics w-oulil seem to Üc. then. between cithcr Philip Christian of Livcrpool. or lu-ed* itsclf ; and the latter would appcar to be the more likely, for the “ ragged " pipe seemingly bdongx to the second half of last century.

{Photographe by H. HoyU.)

No. XXII. — STAFEORDSHIKF. FOUR-BOWLBD PIPE