FIGURAL PIPE STEM
Ojibwa or Eastern Sioux
Western Great Lakes
White cedar, paint
Diameter : 4.76cm
The surface of the stem appears to have been partially scrubbed. Late nineteenth or twentieth century pigment remains on the crest of the helical ribs, as well as on the heads of the birds. There are some superficial fragments missing from the edges of the delicate helical ribs.
A 19th C Ojibwa or Eastern Sioux figural pipe stem, Western Great Lakes, c1860
Historic spiral pipe stems in North America are most commonly attributed to the Ojibwa and Eastern Sioux, and are documented as being collected almost exclusively in present day Minnesota and Wisconsin. This unusual example is notable for being carved from a delicate softwood, identified by Theodore Brasser as likely being white cedar. Spiral pipe stems are well documented in the first half of the nineteenth century and can be found in the illustrations of George Caitlin.
The form of this example is defined by four projecting helical ribs that are transformed into four individual carvings of crane, or possibly egret heads as the spiral nears the proximal end (bowl end) of the stem.
Private collection, Indiana
National Museum of the American Indian, Cat. No. NMAI E23722-0
Please contact Dealer for more information