Pipe [MPS-f-434, Tower Pipe Exhibition]
A solid wooden pipe, likely made in Barbizon, France, in 1850, from hazel wood. The pipe is shaped like a sculpted male silhouette reminiscent of a Gavroche – a figure of a poor boy from French literature. The boy holds a movable pipe stem in his hand. The boy’s head, wearing a large cap, is the pipe head, which, when removed and assembled with the stem, forms a complete pipe. European collections contain several examples of distinctive pipes that trace their origins to Barbizon. They were handmade, local, souvenir products, and their production began in the 1840s. The pipe was acquired by a collector in Vilnius and later purchased for the museum.