**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Southwestern Argentina or south-central Chile, Mapuche people, ca. 1500 CE. An attractive Mapuche pipe for smoking tobacco, hand-carved from a single piece of volcanic stone with a dark gray hue. The stone has a polished but slightly pitted surface, a tubular mouthpiece, a vent hole at the opposite end, and an ovoid receptacle with a tall rim in the center. Above the vent hole is a protruding abstract head, possibly anthropomorphic, with a long nose carved at the front. Pipes like this one were likely favored gifts exchanged between different cultural groups throughout ancient Chile, and styles made in different regions have been found far from their origins. Size: 5" L x .75" W (12.7 cm x 1.9 cm)

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Bettina Schwimmer collection, Chicago, Illinois, USA, collected from 1955 to 2006

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#156991

Chips to rim of mouth and fill holes. Minor surface abrasions. Mineral deposits and earthen encrustations.