2-979-720 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Pipe Attendant, 1857. 'The pipe-attendant is an essential in Oriental luxury and comfort, the pipe itself being the inseparable companion of Nawab, Pasha, and Sahib. The pipe represented is of the kind denominated narghile, wherein the fumes of the weed, which is of a peculiar sort, and specially prepared, are inhaled through water'. Engraving '...copied from drawings by native artists, some on ivory, others on talc. They are in the possession of Messrs. Smith and Co., of Leadenhall-street, and are for sale. They are sixty in number, and are very curiously and elaborately painted...[They depict] a variety of characters and incidents in Indian native life...which will almost speak for themselves'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.