A FINE TLINGIT PIPE

Details
A FINE TLINGIT PIPE
Of a crouching beaver holding a stick in his teeth, with a human face in low relief above the tail with drilled mouth forming opening for the stem, the iron bowl a section of a gun barrel mounted into its back
4¾in. (12.1cm.) long
Provenance
Sotheby's, New York, April 24, 1982, lot 421

Lot Essay

The finely carved figure of a beaver is of hardwood, perhaps originally from the stock of a rifle. Twenty-four gauge barrels from trade muskets available through the Hudson Bay Company or larger military muskets were often used for pipe bowls (Holm, 1983, p. 102).