Prestige pipe bowl ·  Cameroon Grassfields, Bamum / Bali · ID: 3050342

Description

fired clay, dyed brown, redwood flour, base

The smoking of locally grown tobacco was common in the Grassfields during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Not only men, but also women were addicted to smoking.

Pipes for everyday use were kept simple. More elaborately designed pipe bowls tended to be used by high-ranking men. Some of these pipes served as purely prestigious objects, displayed as status symbols during ceremonial occasions. They were also used during important ceremonies to make contact with the divine supreme beings.

The object Prestige pipe bowl with the object ID 3050342 was last part of the auction 101st Auction at November 11, 2023 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 289.

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Comparing literature

Northern, Tamara, The Art of Cameroon, Washington D.C. 1984, p. 120