Pipe Bowl
CultureDakota (Eastern Sioux), Minnesota
Dateca. 1820
MediumPipestone (catlinite) and lead
DimensionsOverall: 3 × 5 1/8 inches (7.62 × 13.02 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of Tony and Marti Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation in memory of Edward W. Hartman
Object number2004.31
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 208
Collections
DescriptionDark red pipe bowl with dull gray lead inlaid design over surface; flaring bowl with three house-shaped forms along shaft.Gallery LabelMost Plains and Prairie pipe bowls from the post-European contact period were carved from catlinite, a soft, red-colored stone quarried in southwestern Minnesota. This bowl is elaborated with designs of lead inlay. The three architectonic forms comprising the crest along the shaft represent either houses or lodges that, together, appear to symbolize either a fort or village. The four lines at the top of the bowl were likely intended to represent the four sacred directions believed to converge at the ritual center of the universe.
Torrence, Gaylord, ed. Continuum: North American Native Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
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