- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Drawer for wooden stand [1887.17.2.6.1], part of opium smoking set [1887.17.2.1-.15].
- Long description
- Drawer for wooden stand [1887.17.2.6.1], part of opium smoking set [1887.17.2.1-.15]. The drawer for accessories is set into the reverse of the stand and has a metal handle.
- Geographical reference
- Person
- Field collector Unknown Collector
- Other owner George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood
- Other owner Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- PRM source George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood
- PRM source Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- PRM source Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1882
- Date collected
- By 1882
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 05/1887 Transferred: 05/1887
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Process Carpentered, Material Metal
- Dimensions
- Length x Width x Height 180 x 50 x 40 mm [.2]
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1887.17.2.6.2 Erroneous Accession Number: 1986.6.4.1 Erroneous Accession Number: 1986.6.4.2 Other numbers: 160
- Research and responses
This object was previously numbered 1986.6.4.2 [JMC 28/08/2025]
This stand is part of a set of opium smoking apparatus [1887.17.2.1-.15] which was transferred from the Museum of Economic Botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1887. The set is listed in the Kew Register of Specimens Distributed as having been transferred to H.N. Moseley at the Pitt Rivers Museum in May 1887, and the Pitt Rivers Museum Donations I Book contains an itemised listing, entered as a donation from the Director of the Royal Gardens Kew in May 1887. The Kew Specimen entry book gives the source of the collection – Sir George Birdwood – as well as the extra detail that he donated the ‘opium smoking apparatus from Singapore and opium pipe and lamp from Shanghai’ on 21st October 1882. An added note reveals that this collection was ‘withdrawn & distributed’ in May 1887.
When the pipe and lamp were found on display in 1986, and the rest of the items, including the stand, were subsequently found in a nearby drawer in 2003, the associated labels and markings gave the source as Birdwood. Since the PRM accession book entry did not mention Birdwood, and the objects found did not match up exactly with the itemisation, this was thought to be a separate set of opium smoking apparatus from Singapore and was accessioned with the found unentered number 1986.6.1-.11. By making the connection with Birdwood and finding the Kew number ‘160’ on the object labels, it has been possible to definitively match the objects to the set transferred from Kew in 1887. [JMC 28/08/2025]
This object is part of a set of opium smoking apparatus [1887.17.2.1-.15]. The full set comprises two trays [.1] and [.2 – not found], a bamboo pipe stem [.3] with ceramic bowl [.4], spare bowl [.5 - not found], stand for spare bowls [.6], lamp [.7], bowl-cleaner [.8], stem cleaner [.9 – not found], forceps [.10], pin for roasting opium [.11], two horn containers of prepared opium [.12 & .13], and two needles [.14 & .15 – additional to the accession book listing]. [JMC 28/08/2025]
The opium pipe and bowl (1887.17.2.3-.4) were researched by MSc student Rui En Pok (Rae) for the module ‘Provenance Research and the Ethnographic Archive’ in Spring 2025. Updated descriptions of these two objects and transcriptions and translations of the text on the saddle and pipe bowl have been provided by her. For a copy of the provenance report which is relevant to all items in the set please see the related documents file. [JMC 28/08/2025]
Search terms: Narcotic, Opium Accessory