Specimen Study -17th Century Broken Milled Clay Pipe

Continuing her ongoing series of specimen studies inspired by 19th-century cabinet collections, Kerrie Creighton renders a fragment of daily history: a 17th-century clay tobacco pipe bowl featuring delicate milling along its rim, recovered while mudlarking in Colchester.
Clay pipes were the ubiquitous disposable items of early modern Britain, often smoked, broken, and discarded in riverbeds and soil within moments of use. Creighton’s study captures the subtle patina, fine porcelain-like texture, and delicate geometry of the bowl, treating an everyday disposable object as a precious archaeological remnant.
Accompanied by hand-drawn archival labels (“FIND: 17TH CENTURY BROKEN MILLED CLAY PIPE / FIND LOCATION: COLCHESTER, UK”) and framed in a decorative antique gilt frame, this piece turns a humble lost item into a refined object of contemplation.