Delftware Tobacco jar

A fine and large 18th-century Dutch Delftware tobacco jar of baluster form, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and fitted with a later gilt-brass cover. The body is painted with a central cartouche inscribed HANNOVER, framed within stylised scrolls, foliate sprays, and a bold shell motif. Flanking the cartouche are two figures of “smoking Indians” in feathered headdresses, each holding a long clay pipe, standing beside columns and balustrades, with further landscape and foliate details below.
The use of the name Hannover refers to a popular 18th-century blend of tobacco imported from the German state of Hanover. Dutch Delft potters frequently produced jars bearing the names of different tobacco blends and their places of origin, intended for use by tobacconists to store and advertise stock. The exoticised imagery of Native American figures reinforced the transatlantic origins of tobacco and catered to European fascination with the “New World.”