Ridovics Anna: Történelem pipafüstben (Budapest, 2019)
9. VÉNUSZ AJÁNDÉKA. A TAJTÉKPIPA / GIFT OF VENUS. MEERSCHAUM PIPE
Gift of Venus. Meerschaum pipe a pierced, Lace-shaped meerschaum, is decorated with small silver spire towers. At the top of the tower, a silver turulbird holding a sword in its beak at the place of the cross spreads its wings. (Fig. 227) Joseph Schweger's style is reminiscent of the Napoleon-pipe, the bridge of which forms the letter N. (Fig. 228) Classic style followed by the sensitively shaped nudes of the three Graces. (Fig. 229) He carved the pipe smoker outlaw in the style of folk romance. (Fig. 230) The engraving of the pipe with animals similar to the Austrian flat carving style. (Fig. 231) The pipe with smoking devil is in two copies in the museum's collection, but only one of them is signed. The depiction may have been transferred to the meerschaum pipe after the devil figure of a biedermeier painted porcelain pipe (K.P.M. Berlin, c. 1830).97 (Fig. 233—234) There's a couple of pipes that have the SPIRO sign stamped in the back of the shank. These may have come from a later period, when the Spiro family was already granted a distribution right. (Fig. 232) 9.19 ADLER WORKSHOP'S ORNATE HISTORICAL PIPES The majority of meerschaums made and sold in Budapest at the end of the century came from the Adler company. There was a great demand for his ribbed chibouques, with their relief ribbon decoration. The Adler company recollects the family having been in business since the beginning of the 19th century or the end of the 1 790s. This is difficult to prove, as the name of Adler does not appear upon any registers and there are no Adler pipes from this time. However, we do know that in Óbuda (Old Buda) Jewish community there were silversmiths by the name of Adler (Philip and Joseph), whose pipe mountings bear the Óbuda silver hallmark of quality and the master's own AP (Philipp Adler) hallmark since the 1820s. Probably at a number of silversmiths' workshops the skilful craftsmen not only lidded the pipes, but actually made and sold them as well. According to the catalogue of the 1885 National Exhibition, the workshop was founded in 1 83598. The ADLER mark stamped into the meerschaum next to the stem opening of the pipe is known from the second part of the 19th century. The founder of the company was quite surely Adler Philip. His name is also on the 1916 price catalogue. It is assumed that he was the master from Óbuda who then relocated to Pest and opened a workshop under 23 Deák Ferenc street. Fülöp Adler is listed in the Mourning Book of the Pest Jewish Community with a death date of January 23,1873." It may be that he is the same person, but this needs to be confirmed by further research. The leather case that protects the pipes always contains the stamped name of the distributor company, the known, mostly late pieces are referred to as "Adler Philip and son" (Fig. 235-237, 243). The company participated in the 1878 Paris World Exhibition; among its displays were a communal pipe for four smokers and a chibouque with a two-meterlong stem with a silver lid.100 Unfortunatly we don't have more information about them. Besides everyday pipes they produced for the millennium decorative pipes of incredible artistic workmanship, which, with the use of graphic originals, reproduced true likenesses of the royal couple, members of the Habsburg Dynasty, like Archduke Joseph and his family or portraits of famous politicians of the day. (Fig. 239, 241-242) In the gold- and silverworkers category at the 1896 Millennium National Exhibition the company of Fülep Adler and Son was awarded the Grand Prize. While these massive decorative pipes represented the pinnacle of the art of pipe engraving, they were non-functional, and should be evaluated, within the limitations of their genre, as statuettes of historic interest - wrote Edit Haider101. Such a one was that depicting the 12 members of the Bánffy Government, in a rococo-style frame, accompanied by angels on trumpets and, on the base, allegorical scenes. Miniature tableau scene on gold-leafed silver lid is of Árpád, tribal leader of the Magyars, raising upon his shield. (Fig. 241) One of the large pipes from the famous Adler workshop summarises the historical attitudes current at the time of the Millennium. (Fig. 238) The composition is inspired by the panoramic Feszty scenes. The carved meerschaum lid is shaped into the female figure of Hungária holding in her hand the Hungarian coat-of-arms. The conquering tribal leaders on horseback and the proud figure of their prince Árpád, can be seen on the bridge section. The Hungarian people (peasant figures leading oxen, horsemen) arriving in their new homeland appear on either side of the body of the pipe. A half-lengh portrait of the founder of the state, Saint Stephen, appears on the base of the pipe. On the front, in the place of honour, is a portrait of the Emperor Francis Joseph and Queen 405