Chinese Opium Pipe Bowl

A hexagonal, heavy-looking button with a green dot at the top and incised edges

This opium pipe bowl is from China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is stamped pottery. Wealthy smokers bought pipes carved in wood, ivory, porcelain and jade, sometimes decorated with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, silver and rawhide, and made with textures meant to feel pleasing to the hand. A six-sided, squat object in gray-brown with softly rounded shoulders. A small greenish circle sits at the center top, and fine incised borders and small panels with scratchy motifs decorate the sides. It is 2.5 inches wide, 2.5 deep and 1 high.

Sensible, sturdy and neatly engraved around all six sides.