Ralf Kluttig-Altmann
The Arbeitskreis zur Erforschung der Tonpfeifen (German
Society for Clay-Pipe Research) held its 15th Meeting on 28-30 April
2001. Twenty five participants from Germany and one from Holland
and several visitors attended the Meeting, which was held in the
Niederrheinische Freilichtmuseum Dörenburg in Grefrath at the
invitation of the Museum Director, Heinz-Peter Mielke. A venue for
the Meeting was chosen in the German, Belgian and Dutch border region
to make it easier to visualise the close relationships that existed
in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in the production,
marketing and consumption of clay pipes and tobacco, in this region
that today is transected by national borders. Two excursions, one
to Weert in Holland and the other to Andenne in Belgium, were specially
planned to relate to this topic.
On 28th April, the first day of the Meeting, Martin Kügler,
Görlitz, the chairman of the Meeting, welcomed the participants,
gave out several notices about the meeting program, and thanked
Heinz-Peter Mielke for inviting the Society to Grefrath for its
15th Meeting. The editors of KnasterKOPF, M. Kügler and Ralf
Kluttig-Altmann, announced that from Volume 14, which was now ready,
KnasterKOPF had been given a modern layout, more content and a larger
format (now A4 format). The participants were full of praise for
KnasterKOPF's new look. H.-P. Mielke then gave the Meeting an account
of his museum, which occupies a late 17th century part of the castle.
He also dealt with the surrounding region of parts of Germany and
the Netherlands from the points of view of ceramic-making, pipe-making
and tobacco-growing traditions.
The first paper was given by Lutz Libert on the Vierraden
Tobacco Museum, of which he is Director. The Museum is accommodated
in an old tobacco barn; it documents, with the help of modern multi-media
techniques, the history of the important tobacco-growing district
of Uckermark, laying particular stress on the history of tobacco
growing in the former GDR. It is well worth visiting the museum,
which includes an open-air demonstration of growing tobacco and
historical tobacco-farming tools and machinery. Lutz Libert proposed
that one of the next Meetings be held in Vierraden, and he looked
forward to showing participants around his museum then, if not earlier.
Herbert Böhmer, Passau, talked on "Documentary
evidence on clay-pipe makers in Passau" (see KnasterKOPF
Vol. 14, 2001, pp. 20-26). Before 1716, as far as is known,
there was no clay-pipe factory in Passau to which the rich finds
of 17th century pipes from the Feste Oberhaus, Passau, could be
attributed. Similarly, there appears to be no connection between
the clay pipes so far found in the town and the three clay-pipe
makers known to have worked in the town in the 18th century. It
is hoped that further research can close this information gap and
rectify this lack of correlation between documentary evidence and
field evidence.
Ekkehard Reiff, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, gave a paper entitled
"On the state of clay-pipe research in the Upper Harz area
- new results and finds". He reported on his many years
of archaeological research and fieldwork in the Upper Harz mining
district, and in particular on a remarkable find of a so-called
"welcome" glass beaker, which was decorated with a detailed
picture of miners smoking underground. The beaker bears the date
1696. Even if this beaker is not authentic, i.e. is a copy made
in the 19th century, as one might suspect from its rather perfect
finish, it is still a piece of indirect evidence for the existence
of an original beaker made in 1696. If this is so, then it documents
that, as early as the end of the 17th century, miners in the Harz
Mts. enjoyed smoking.
In the afternoon, there was an excursion to Weert, Holland,
firstly to visit the town museum "De Tiendschnuur".
Next, we heard about the history of the former clay-pipe firm of
Trumm Bergmans, whose factory has been researched and documented
in detail thanks to excellent co-operation between the firm and
the town council of Weert. Jos Engelen, who in 1985 wrote a monograph
on the firm, gave the participants a very interesting account of
this factory, which was the most important clay-pipe producer in
Holland. The firm, which between 1846 and 1922 produced 40 million
pipes mostly for local markets, was founded by immigrants from Westerwald,
Germany. Highly detailed research involving all the firm's trading
documents probably makes this the best documented clay-pipe factory
in Europe. A speciality of the production was that pipe moulds were
made with a picture at the front that was replaceable, specially
designed for "pilgrims' pipes". After Jos Engelen's talk,
participants visited one of the firm's pipe kilns, which had been
moved to a new site in 1987 with financial help from the town council.
The Trumm-Bergmanns brothers, descendants of the founder of the
firm, accompanied the excursion and patiently answered our many
questions.
The participants met for evening dinner in Grefrath and, afterwards,
in keeping with tradition, examined and discussed specimens of pipes
that had been brought, looked at new literature and exchanged information.
On Sunday 29th April, there was a whole-day excursion to Andenne,
Belgium. The first stop was the Musée de la Ceramique
d'Andenne, where the participants were welcomed by Robert
Mondant, the Conservateur. R. Mondant gave a brief talk on "The
history of pipe-making in Andenne and the arrival of the immigrant
German pipemakers", in which he explained that Peter Meniecken,
a pipemaker from Westerwald, emigrated to Andenne in 1757. He gave
an account of the subsequent fluctuating history of clay-pipe production
in a town where much antagonism and many difficulties had to be
overcome. The participants viewed the exhibits of numerous models
of ceramic kilns, an original 2-storey clay-pipe kiln, and a mock-up
of a clay mine.
In the afternoon, the participants visited an operating clay-pipe
factory in Andenne, the Piperie Léonard, owned and managed
by Pascal Léonard. Here, one could see all the production
processes, i.e. how an unfired, moulded clay pipe was made from
hand-rolled clay. Models from the various moulds were also examined.
On the third day of the Meeting, 30th April, the first paper was
given by R. Kluttig-Altmann, Leipzig, on "Observations
on the roll-on techniques used for pipe-stem decorations"
(KnasterKOPF Vol. 14, 2001, pp. 32-49).
He demonstrated how much detailed information about the long-forgotten
methods of producing manually impressed decorations one can obtain
from careful study of clay-pipe fragments from excavations. The
numerous stamped or rolled-on decorations on the stems of 17th -18th
century pipe finds possess a wealth of potential information, which
so far has been made little use of. Every serious study of these
decorations cannot afford to ignore the techniques with which they
were produced. This paper documents a step forward that has been
made in the deciphering of these techniques.
To complement the studies of Ralf Kluttig-Altmann on actual specimens
of clay pipes, Martin Kügler explained that his evaluation
of documentary evidence on the above techniques provided most disappointing
results, and underlines the importance of carrying out further studies
on actual clay-pipe specimens of different ages and provenance.
Regina Geiss-Dreier, Birkenfeld, talked on "The
clay-pipe finds from Burg and Schloss Oberstein", which
she has studied together with other material excavated there over
a number of years. The most richly decorated pipes are chiefly from
the 17th century. The specimens have not all been correlated with
definite production centres, but they show marks and stem inscriptions
that point to known or unknown pipe-makers in the Mannheim-Frankenthal-Heidelberg
region, which was so important for clay-pipe production in Germany
in the early years. A so-called "Wortmann" pipe, with
no heel or foot, and displaying the date 1736, is a specially important
find amongst the excavated material, as it is the oldest example
of a pipe from Westerwald that has been found so far.
Rüdiger Articus, Hamburg, gave a lecture with slides
on "Choice specimens - 18th century relief-decorated pipes
from in and around Hamburg", i.e. a cross-section of pipes
from Hamburg collection and excavation inventories. Among the richly
decorated clay-pipe bowls there are many that have never been found
in Germany, e.g. Batavia, Oranje, Prussian and wedding pipes. Many
of the models were produced as special orders by Gouda pipemakers
such as Frans Verzijl. Such pipes made by him and other Gouda pipemakers
in the second half of the 18th century are mostly of fine quality,
which does justice to the detailed decoration and/or motif.
Maren Weidner, Kiel, talked on "Clay pipes of German
origin from the Reichenstrasse in Hamburg". Numerous 18th
and 19th century clay pipes were found in a wooden water pipe (probably
belonging to an inn) during excavations carried out in 1998. Only
about 10 % of the finds come from Gouda; the rest come from north
German pipe factories, such as those of Knecht or Gorbel in Grossalmerode,
Hoffkamp in Altona, and Casselmann in Münden. Such a large
proportion of German pipes is very rare and, as such, highly significant
for evaluating the production and marketing of clay pipes in Germany.
After this lecture, the last at this Meeting, M. Kügler reported
on some matters concerning the Society and on new literature, and
announced that the 16th Meeting of the Arbeitskreis
zur Erforschung der Tonpfeifen had been fixed for 26-28 April 2002
and would be held in the Kreismuseum Grimma, Saxony. The next Meeting
after that was not yet fixed as several invitations had been received
from museums in different parts of Germany.
R. Kluttig-Altmann added a few comments, in which he drew attention
to the large amount of time and energy invested by the editors in
KnasterKOPF in order to guarantee its viability and to maintain
its high quality. He asked for everybody's support. As far as content
is concerned, KnasterKOPF has sufficient high-quality material to
ensure its survival well beyond Volume 15, which will be issued
at the 2002 Meeting. However, in order to make the financial situation
less precarious, KnasterKOPF desperately needs more subscribers
- the attention of all potentially interested groups, particularly
those concerned with recent or industrial archaeology, the history
of tobacco and smoking, and of course clay pipes, should be drawn
to the existence of KnasterKOPF.
The 15th Meeting of the Arbeitskreis zur Erforschung der Tonpfeifen
was closed with a vote of thanks to the local organiser, H.-P. Mielke,
and his staff, for their hospitality, which made the Meeting in
the Niederrheinische Freilichtmuseum Dörenburg in Grefrath
such a worthwhile and enjoyable event.
M. Kügler was thanked by the participants for all the work
he had done for the Meeting, as in previous years, and particularly
for his first class organisation, which had produced a highly interesting
program, smooth collaboration between the people and organisations
concerned, resulting in a most successful three-day meeting in Grefrath.
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