Cobalt Blue & Portrait Pipe

This is a porcelain pipe bowl made by Meissen in the late 18th or ealry 19th century during the Marcolini period. It is hand painted with a cobalt blue ground color with a superb portrait of a lady to the front surrounded by a gold trim and a bit of gold to the piece jutting out from the main body right under the portrait. The lady is nicely dressed in a green dress with a red cloth and wearing a fancy hat with feather on top. Really nice quality painting! It is rare to find Meissen pipes and this one is marked on the inside with the under glaze blue crossed swords with the star below it - upside down as is usually the case. The pipe is in good condition but I think the top rim has been broken all around maybe because the cover that used to be in it got knocked. Not sure. The edge is now not quite even and there are tiny nibbles all around. Maybe this was the way it was made and a cover would hide that. No idea. There is also a small hairline right next to where the mark is as shown. Might just be a scratch as I don't see it on top or on the outside. The pipe still rings when tapped. So if it is a hairline it is a very tight and stable one. The entie pipe is 3 inches tall and has a top outer diameter of 1.125 inches. Please email me for more information or other pictures.