In The Meerschaum Pipe, a smoking pipe is mysteriously paired with what appears to be a small classified notice from a newspaper stuck to the wall. While any narrative relation between the two objects remains elusive, we as viewers are invited to create a story connecting the pipe and the newspaper clipping. As is often the case within Harnett's oeuvre, the artist's signature appears “carved” into the planar wood surface, which is rendered as meticulously as the picture's subjects.