Stem: wood; porcupine quills natural and dyed brown and orange; long coarse hair; hide thongs; hide; possibly sinew(?). Bowl: red stone.

Pipe stem is made of wood. Hair dyed orange is secured to the bottom of the mouth piece with possibly sinew. A piece of hide is wrapped around the top of the mouth piece and tied at the bottom over the hair with a hide thong. This strip of hide is ornamented with hide thongs that are decorated with an alternating pattern of knots and wrapped quills. It appears that feathers may have been tied to end of these hide thongs. Quills have been wrapped around possibly sinew, which is then wrapped around the pipe stem - on one side of the pipe stem the wrapped quillwork patterns form parallel lines; the other side is ornamented with 5 figures that are divided with parallel lines, these figures are possibly thunderbirds, 3 of the 5 appear to have heart lines. Closer to the bowl end of the pipe stem is more dyed hair that is secured with wrapping of possibly sinew. The entire pipe bowl is made of red stone, a central line has been engraved along the entire length of the top of the shank.

Parallel lines, thunderbirds, heart lines

Museum documentation

Visit to Denver Art Museum of Alex Nahwegahbow and Ruth Phillips, assisted by Eric Berkemeyer and Kristin Strid on 22 Jan 2014