Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Oana Toda: Tobacco Clay Pipes from Rupea Castle and their Historical Context
Tobacco Clay Pipes from Rupea Castle and their Historical Context 125 be a piece with either a bulgy or a semispherical bowl; it also shares similarities with shanks belonging to Baroque kaolin pipes.36 Both variants could have presented flutes on the keel. The second one (PL 1/7) has a simple shape with a short shank and a zigzagged decoration on the lip of its cylindrical bowl (Fig. 5/7). Unfortunately, it cannot be connected to any of the consecrated pipe variants.37 The preserved shank and ring (cat. 9, PI. 1/9) made from a kaolin based fabric of a light beige color seem to come from a Hungarian type pipe form with Turkish influence. Its evolution, as described by G. Tomka, determined the disappearance of the separation between the upper and lower part of the head towards the middle of the 18th century.38 The shank end of the piece from Rupea has a turban-like decoration (Fig. 5/9) and a stepped termination. Examples which seem to belong to this category were found in Simleul Silvaniei, though this lot was not published in detail.39 Not much can be said about the undecorated pipe bowl made of kaolin clay (cat. 10, PI. 1/10), except that its shape and coarse finishing indicate that it could be the product of a local unspecialized workshop. No analogy could be found in the surrounding territories and its smaller-sized burning chamber dates it to the 17th or 18th centuries, rather than the 19th one, when its context was dated. The glazed pipes are the fewest among the discoveries in Rupea. One is a green-glazed artifact of a Turkish type (cat. 11, Pi. 1/11)> though, glazing is not very common for the Ottoman products.40 It has a semispherical and fluted base of the bowl, while the upper part remains cylindrical. It displays plenty of cogwheel decoration and incisions (Fig. 5/11). Pieces with this shape and decoration were especially popular during the 17th century.41 Judging by its short shank and clean smooth cut of the missing ring, one can presume that this piece was in use after a partial fragmentation, by cutting and filing the broken end. With its peculiar shape, pipe number 12 from Rupea (PI. 1/12) was most likely equipped with extensions used for hanging on a thread or chain. Its bowl still preserves a protuberance that was part of a missing element (a loop for tying a rope?) and, on the opposite side, it is connected to the upper part of the shank. The molded decoration covering the entire surface, dominated by herringbone and striped ornaments (Fig. 5/12), resembles the typical ornamentation of the early Hungarian pipes.42 Unfortunately, no formal analogy was identified so far,43 despite the fact that several pipes with hanging loops or orifices can be noted.44 The most recent of the pipe heads from Rupea are of Austrian and Hungarian origin, were produced in these areas, and can be dated based on the analogies at hand (cat. 13-16). These last four pieces from the catalogue are from the 19th century. All of them have high cylindrical or polygonal bowls. This was a direct consequence of the generalization of the smoking habit and of the tobacco crops in East-Central Europe, with a direct impact on the price of tobacco. Its affordability had a visible effect on the dimensions of the burning chamber.45 The pipe heads decorated with molded claws’ on the keel and black fabric (cat. 13 and 14, Pi. 1/13-14) are thought to be products of the most important pipe production center of the period: Banska Stiavnica, in present day Slovakia.46 Banska Stiavnica products with slightly different 36 Gacic 2011, 85, cat. 41. 37 The zigzagged motif is presented on the ring of a 17th century Ottoman pipe from Szigetvár (HU) of a completely different shape (Kovács-Rózsás 2014, fig. 6/6). 38 Tomka 2000, 32, tab. 2/fig 6. 39 Gruia 2013, 112, fig. 4. 40 Kopeczny-Dincä 2011, 173. 41 Kovács-Rózsás 2014, fig. 3/7 and 6/1; Gaspar 2016, cat. 12. 42 Kondorosy 2007b, 273. fig. 1. 43 And future research on the Transylvanian finds could establish its local production, be it the case. 44 Kondorosy 2007b, cat. B196 and B182, fig. 7; Gacic 2011, cat. 43; Kovács-Rózsás 2014, 251, fig. 7/1. 45 Robinson 1985, 161; Tomka 2000, 32. 46 Gruia 2012a, 265.
