Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010047Still Life with Pipe and Matches and Still Life with Herring, Bread, and Cheese (pair)
About the Artwork
The artist was a smoker. In this composition the place of honor is given to a pipe made in Austria around the middle of the 19th century. It is made of precious materials—meerschaum, silver, amber, horn or lacquered wood—that are carefully fashioned, all lovingly rendered by the artist. The cord with a tassel (perhaps of horsehair) is not just a decorative element, it is a security measure in case the precious bowl of the pipe becomes detached from the pipe stem. The pipe is surrounded by ordinary smoker's accessories—a cigar case, a snuffbox, and a match holder in porcelain—all placed on a Turkish rug. The Latin inscription translates: "Use, not abuse." In 1858 Decamps was 55 years old and not in the best of health. Perhaps a doctor had advised him to reduce his consumption of tobacco.
Inscriptions
Signed lower left: dc; upper right: dc rev 1858; inscribed above: utere ne abutere [Use, not abuse]
Provenance
Decamps sale, Paris, Drouot, 23-24 January 1865 (lots 26, 27), bought by M. Desprez for ff 300, ff 225. His collection sale, Versailles, 17 December 1972 (lot 218), to Georges Martin du Nord at Galerie B. G. Verte, Paris. Sold to Galerie Brame-Lorenceau, Paris. Bought by Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980.
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981). The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-February 1, 1987).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (French, 1803–1860)
- Date
- 1858
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 63 x 38 cm (24 13/16 x 14 15/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
- Accession no.
- 1980.254
More by Alexandre Gabriel Decamps in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010047
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