White pipe clay (Dutch: ''pijpaarde'') is a white-firing clay of the sort that is used to fashion smoking pipes. The clay was found in deposits of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

rivers and in the 16th-century centers of production for white pipe clay objects were

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

and

Gouda, South Holland Gouda () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, between Rotterdam and Utrecht, in the province of South Holland. Gouda has a population of 75,000 and is famous for its Gouda cheese, stroopwafels, many grachten, smoking pipe ...

. The name comes from the most common usage of white pipe clay, the Gouda smoking pipe or ''Goudse pijp''.

Devotional figures

In archaeological digs in the Netherlands, small white devotional figurines have been found, but more importantly, several recent digs in cities have uncovered the molds used to press these small figurines. Forty figurines and twenty-eight parts of figurines were discovered on the Oude Varkenmarkt in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

in a cesspit dating to the middle of the 15th century.

Goudse pijp

The Gouda pipe was a long-stemmed white

tobacco pipe A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can range from very simp ...

made in Gouda in the same way as the old figurines in a pressed mold. They became popular with the import of tobacco through the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

and later the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

. The pipes can be seen in a number of 17th-century paintings and are regularly found in archaeological digs in the Netherlands. They were continuously produced up to the 20th century. File:Gouda pijpenstad Weeknummer 51-50 - Open Beelden - 3987.ogv, Dutch film demonstrating how Gouda pipes were made in 1951 File:David teniers ii le fumeur flamand a smoker lighting a pipe in an inte d5622866g.jpg, One of many paintings of smokers by

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

File:Teken-college-trekschuit.JPG, Passengers in a

trekschuit Trekschuit (, literally ''"tug-boat"'', but true meaning ''"tugged-boat"'') is an old style of sail- and horse-drawn boat specific to the Netherlands, where it was used for centuries as a means of passenger traffic between cities along ''trekv ...

smoking on the

Haarlemmertrekvaart The Haarlemmertrekvaart �haːrlɛmərˈtrɛkfaːrt(Haarlem's Tow-Canal) is a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It was dug in 1631, making it the oldest tow-canal in Holland. Travel on such can ...

to avoid the stench of the canals, dated 1760 drawing by

Simon Fokke Simon Fokke (1712–1784) was a Dutch designer, Etching, etcher, and Engraving, engraver. Born in Amsterdam, he was a pupil of J. C. Philips, and was chiefly employed by booksellers to engrave small portraits and vignettes. He died in Amsterdam in ...

In the 1911 ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'', Gouda was still known for its ''

churchwarden pipe A churchwarden pipe is a tobacco pipe with a long stem. The history of the pipe style is traced to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Some churchwarden pipes can be as long as 16 inches (40 cm). In German the style is ref ...

s'' and even mentioned a winter pastime of skating while smoking from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

to Gouda without breaking such pipes.

References

{{Commons category, White pipe clay Sculpture materials Sediments Visual arts materials