Ceremonial Pipe – Wood – Chokwe – Congo

Stylistic well carved wooden pipe from the Chokwe people of DR Congo.

At its height during the second half of the nineteenth century,  aristocrats surrounded themselves with a wide variety of finely crafted boxes, jars, stools, pipes, musical instruments and weapons. This distinctive tradition of anthropomorphic sculpture developed around 1900. Although such forms predate the colonial presence, European patrons greatly increased the demand for them.
Provenance: former private collection from Germany.