Soapstone, greenish-white (steatite?); metal; silken cord; red paint or pigment

Made of greenish-white soapstone (possibly steatite), with a single metal ear ornament attached to the pipe with a thin silken cord. Red paint has been used to accentuate carved elements.

It is carved in the form of a man's head, with a deep mouth with downturned corners, prominent chin, long sharp Roman nose, eyes formed from two deep incised lines leaving a raised eye between. The mouth and eyes are painted red, the deeply carved nostrils are unpainted. Both cheeks are incised with similar designs which seem to represent a vertical bar or rectangle from which triangles extend, pointing towards the ears. The side of the figure's right ear is incised with a spray of five feathers, much more featherlike than the triangles on the cheeks. The side of the figure's left ear is decorated with two incised lines, defining an arc, possibly filled with crude cross-hatching, joined at the top to two incised parallel straight lines extending onto the edge of the forehead. These incised decorations may represent tattoos, or painted decoration. The head is partially shaved, to form a central spray of hair, cut flat to form the top of the much used bowl. The ears, not realistically carved, are pierced for ear ornaments, horizontally. The ear ornament in the figure's right hand ear survives, a parallelogram pierced with a hole for suspension. The man has a clearly defined Adam's apple. The pipe's flute has a roughly octagonal cross-section, with on the figure's left hand side the initials engraved on the vertical plant: 'I.T.' The end of the pipe bowl shows rather circular cutting marks, presumably, but not necessarily made by a metal saw. The two holes are conical in shape, suggesting that they were made with some form of aboriginal bow drill, rather than an imported-type European metal drill. The whole pipe has a very substantial patina, and is heavily marked.

Inscription on pipe "I.T."

This date range of production cited in the British Museum's object catalogue.

Previously owned by American painter Benjamin West, this pipe was part of a collection purchased by the British Museum from Harry and Mrs. Margary in 1991.

Palace Museum, Beijing China - 'Britain Meets the World' (25 February 2007).

British Museum, North American Gallery: first peoples, first contact, 1999.

This pipe is from the painter Benjamin West's studio, and was used as a model in both 'Death of Wolfe' and 'Penn's Treaty with the Indians.'

See JCH King, 'Woodlands Artifacts from the Studio of Benjamin West 1738-1820,' in American Indian Art Magazine 17(1) pp. 34-47; Rayna Green (ed) 'The British Museum Encyclopedia of Native North America' (British Museum Press, 1999) p.118; JCH King 'First Peoples, First Contacts' (British Museum Press, 1999) p. 68.

British Museum object catalogue.

Unknown artist, pipe bowl. Currently in the British Museum, Am1991,09.1. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip December 2007; GRASAC item id 25737.

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), John Borrows (JB), Lindsay Borrows (LB), Darlene Johnston (DJ), Jonathan King (JK), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Bruce Morito (BM), Ruth Phillips (RP), Cory Willmott (CW).