Hookah Base (early 1700s): Art, History and Details

Hookah Base (early 1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Smoking tobacco was introduced to the Mughal court from Iran in the very early 1600s and soon became popular. This base formed part of a hookah, or water pipe, which consisted of a base that held water—sometimes perfumed with herbs or fresh fruit—a detachable bowl to hold tobacco, and a long tube. Early hookahs used existing vessels for bases, including coconut shells. By the late 1600s or early 1700s, richly decorated pieces like this were produced. The jewel-like decoration of blue and green blossoms evokes a garden in which a smoker might have sat.

Object facts

• Title: Hookah Base
• Date: early 1700s
• Culture: India, Mughal Dynasty (1526-1756)
• Type: Glass
• Technique: Glass with colored enamel and gilding
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.8 cm (7 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1969.286

A detail from the museum

Turquoise five-petaled flowers hang from lime green pedicels.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Sōsetsu and Flowers.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 8 (November 1970): 263–271.
• Desjardins, Tara. Mughal Glass: A History of Glassmaking in India. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2024.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.