Bonhams 1793 : A Great Lakes effigy pipe

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6 Jun 2011 12:00 PDT San Francisco
Plains, Plateau & Woodlands
Back to auction 19161

Woodlands/Plains/Plateau

A Great Lakes effigy pipe

Carved from a single piece of wood, stained and painted, the bowl depicting the head of a Native man, red-rimmed eyes, fitted peg ears securing hide thongs, one wrapped in wire (the other lacking), the lead inlay cap rendered as a distinct coiffure, the bowl confronting a seated naked figure with traditional hairstyle and one similarly adorned ear, raising a liquor keg, the erect phallus providing tertiary support, the pipe butt capped in lead and with inlay design accents.
height 3 3/8in, length 5 1/2in

Sold for US$ 46,360 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance:
From a British private collection

Cf:
An effigy pipe with distinct similarities to the present lot, dated 1760-1780 and identified as "possibly Anishinabe", can be found at the Musée McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal. Collected by Sir George Duncan Gibb (1821-1876), Librarian and Curator of the Natural History Society of Montreal, this example can be viewed online at http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M11030 . Though differing in iconography, the rendering of the facial features on the bowl, including slit ear decorations, red-rimmed eyes, inlay coiffure, and artistic use of staining suggests a close kinship to the present lot, possibly executed by the same hand.

For a comprehensive study of effigy pipes from the Algonquin-speaking inhabitants of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, including a consideration of the symbolism associated with the depiction of liquor vessels, see Brownstone, Arni, 2011, pp.54-63.

Category: Ethnographic Art / Native American

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