Bamenda Ceremonial Pipe - Skull Form

Enter a dark, glossy pipe with a grinning head and a stem marked in neat bands.

This skull-form ceremonial pipe is Bamenda, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is terra cotta. Terra cotta pipes are formed from fired clay, and modelers could shape bowls into human or animal heads as well as other forms. Side-on, a long, narrow stem in blackened brown, crossed by evenly spaced grooved lines. The bowl end forms a face with ringed eyes, a toothy mouth and a small pointed spur. Rubbed highlights show along the stem. It is 7.5 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 2 high.

Tall, dark, and with a smile it keeps to itself.