Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 31. (Budapest, 2017)
Szabolcs KONDOROSY: Types of Smoking Pipe Widespread in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th Century in Connection with Archaeological Finds from Onetime Várad Cathedral (Budapest Museum of Applied Arts)
not occur elsewhere, and so was clearly a regional phenomenon, confined to European Ottoman territories. The other examples known from the empire have different texts: four different versions from Babadag, two from Istanbul (one identical to one of the Babadag versions), other on seven Hasankeyf pipes, and one on the Ramla pipe. If such texts were published in sufficient numbers, they could almost certainly allow the cultural and commercial zones of their workshops to be mapped out, perhaps giving a different geographical pattern from that associated with the versions of the formal elements from the same period. These findings show that this type probably started out from the North West coastal region of Asia Minor, but may also have had other, hitherto unknown centres of manufacture. Alternatively, it might originally have developed at another location and in a primary type with somewhat fewer features (perhaps lacking the text band). Even if this were so, however, the subsequent workshops adopted the pattern of the pipes found in Mytilene (which were possibly made elsewhere). We do not have a precise picture of the distribution of the type in Asia Minor. It clearly travelled a long way, but is almost unknown in Syrian and Palestinian lands. Its occurrence in Europe was concentrated in the Hódoltság, where it was introduced and manufactured, and developed in different versions. Sea trade was clearly instrumental in its propagation, as evidenced by occurrences along the west coast of the Black Sea, including a subtype specific to that area. On the other hand, it does not occur in the West Mediterranean or—more strikingly—on the Adriatic coast (Bisaga). Its forms are too refined for it to have taken shape during the spread of smoking in the early 17th century, although its extended shank may be regarded as an early feature. It must have existed prior to 1660, although it almost certainly did not survive the turn of the century. In Hungary, it does not occur in post-Ottoman strata. The plate-like bowl shape created by the type gained great popularity in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century, although with an outward-curving rather than a cylindrical chimney, and two other of its innovations occasionally occur in slightly modified form in other types of the Hódoltság pipes. The wide distribution and early age of the type definitely imply that it was responsible for these effects. Horizontal cylindrical bowl type18 The definitive innovation in the light grey basic type is the horizontal cylinder form of the bowl and the relief pattern on both end plates of the cylinder. Other distinctive features are the low, flared chimney and the ring around its base. The shank has a form well known from Turkish pipes at the base as a keel, but runs through the bowl in flattened form. There are several variations of the pattern on the end-plates of the cylindrical bowl: a) eight segments making up a regular circle (‘spoked wheel’), b) eight segments fitting beside each other and ending in tight arcs (‘geometric flower’), c) petals with curved radii and a stamen in the centre (‘natural flower’). The first of these forms was most probably the spoked wheel. In this case, the cylinder may be interpreted as wheels on an axle. The pipe as a whole may symbolize a cannon. This would be in visual harmony with the emanation of smoke from the pipe and explain the use of a geometric form unusual in Turkish designs. There is no indication of the axle, however, and the longitudinal division of the spokes does not fit 12
