Huqqa Base
1820-1830 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
Huqqas were for smokers, who inhaled the tobacco smoke via a water-filled bowl and flexible pipe. Huqqa bases were traditionally either bell-shaped or globular. This example is much like a contemporary decanter, but with a flaring foot to add both stability and an element of Middle Eastern or Indian style.
Retailers & Traders
The export market for English cut lead glass in the late18th century and the first half of the 19th was huge. As early as 1752, the London glasscutter and retailer Jerome Johnson was advertising 'Turkish and Indian Fashions, Hubble-Bubbles, Springel Glasses for Exportation ...'. This trade was later taken up by John Blades of Ludgate Hill, and by his associates Mathews & Jones, who had a warehouse in Calcutta in the 1820s selling 'a superb assortment of lustres, wall and table shades, hookahs, dessert services, toilet and useful glassware, cut and plain ...'. The Indian princely taste for opulence was well served by the enormous range of British glass on offer - heavy, lustrous, deeply and accurately cut by hand with the aid of steam power.
Ownership & Use
Glass huqqa bases would have been fitted with their flexible tubes and mouthpiece in the countries for which they were destined. Few if any complete specimens are known to survive, and certainly not in Britain. This example is almost certainly, therefore, a failed export - old stock which fell out of fashion and remained, unused, in Britain.
Huqqas were for smokers, who inhaled the tobacco smoke via a water-filled bowl and flexible pipe. Huqqa bases were traditionally either bell-shaped or globular. This example is much like a contemporary decanter, but with a flaring foot to add both stability and an element of Middle Eastern or Indian style.
Retailers & Traders
The export market for English cut lead glass in the late18th century and the first half of the 19th was huge. As early as 1752, the London glasscutter and retailer Jerome Johnson was advertising 'Turkish and Indian Fashions, Hubble-Bubbles, Springel Glasses for Exportation ...'. This trade was later taken up by John Blades of Ludgate Hill, and by his associates Mathews & Jones, who had a warehouse in Calcutta in the 1820s selling 'a superb assortment of lustres, wall and table shades, hookahs, dessert services, toilet and useful glassware, cut and plain ...'. The Indian princely taste for opulence was well served by the enormous range of British glass on offer - heavy, lustrous, deeply and accurately cut by hand with the aid of steam power.
Ownership & Use
Glass huqqa bases would have been fitted with their flexible tubes and mouthpiece in the countries for which they were destined. Few if any complete specimens are known to survive, and certainly not in Britain. This example is almost certainly, therefore, a failed export - old stock which fell out of fashion and remained, unused, in Britain.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Cut glass |
| Brief description | Glass hookah base |
| Physical description | Huqqa base made for the Indian market |
| Dimensions |
|
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
The bases for huqqas or water pipe were made in Britain. The various pipes and fittings were then added in the destination country. In the 1820's, the London glass dealer John Blades had a successful trading business with India where he had a warehouse in Calcutta.(27/03/2003) |
| Object history | Probably made in London; the manufacturer unidentified |
| Summary | Object Type Huqqas were for smokers, who inhaled the tobacco smoke via a water-filled bowl and flexible pipe. Huqqa bases were traditionally either bell-shaped or globular. This example is much like a contemporary decanter, but with a flaring foot to add both stability and an element of Middle Eastern or Indian style. Retailers & Traders The export market for English cut lead glass in the late18th century and the first half of the 19th was huge. As early as 1752, the London glasscutter and retailer Jerome Johnson was advertising 'Turkish and Indian Fashions, Hubble-Bubbles, Springel Glasses for Exportation ...'. This trade was later taken up by John Blades of Ludgate Hill, and by his associates Mathews & Jones, who had a warehouse in Calcutta in the 1820s selling 'a superb assortment of lustres, wall and table shades, hookahs, dessert services, toilet and useful glassware, cut and plain ...'. The Indian princely taste for opulence was well served by the enormous range of British glass on offer - heavy, lustrous, deeply and accurately cut by hand with the aid of steam power. Ownership & Use Glass huqqa bases would have been fitted with their flexible tubes and mouthpiece in the countries for which they were destined. Few if any complete specimens are known to survive, and certainly not in Britain. This example is almost certainly, therefore, a failed export - old stock which fell out of fashion and remained, unused, in Britain. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.117-1998 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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