Near East, Ottoman Empire / Turkey, ca. late 19th century CE. A collection of 4 wood chibouk pipe stems; three are adorned with glass beading and tassels, and one with a walrus ivory mouthpiece. The polished ivory mouthpiece is mounted to a wood stem, and an enameled copper ring encircles the ivory. The other stems are covered with cloth and threads strung with clusters of glass seed beads arranged into fours are wrapped around the midsection. Additional brass wires are then coiled and diagonally laced around the beads. Size of longest: 13.25" L x 0.75" W (33.7 cm x 1.9 cm)

This is an ESA antique exempt piece of ivory and cannot be sold internationally to several countries or to anyone residing in the states of California, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington DC. Please check your country’s laws before bidding on this piece.

Please note this was part of the Leavitt Hunt collection. Hunt (1831 to 1907) was a lawyer, world traveler, and photographer and the first American, if not the first person, to make a photographic record of the Near East and Mediterranean, during his "Grand Tour" from 1851 to 1852, alongside his friend, Nathan Flint Baker (1820-1891). Hunt and Baker captured calotype images of some of the greatest ancient ruins of the Classical World, and these prints are invaluable early artistic photographs as well as historical records of the sites, and several were donated by Hunt's family to the Library of Congress as part of the permanent collection, as well as other institutions. Besides taking photos, artifacts were personally collected by Hunt in the various countries he visited, including this piece.

Provenance: ex-Natalie Capron, Vermont, USA, 1972 to 2008, now by her heirs; ex-Maurice Crandall, Vermont, 1941 to 1972; ex-Clyde du Vernet Hunt, Vermont, 1916 to 1941; ex-Katherine Jarvis Hunt, Vermont, 1907 to 1916; ex-Leavitt Hunt, Vermont, collected 1851 to 1852

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#174407

Stems of pipes only, missing bowls. Stable fissures and abrasions. Losses to wood tips. Fraying to silk tassels. Enameled copper ring is reattached to the ivory in modern times with adhesive.