Stamped Clay Opium Pipe Bowl

This unusual object is an early 20th century opium pipe bowl, sculpted of soft grey clay to a squat, eight-sided form and fitted with a brass collar. The sides of the pipe bowl are decorated with stamped maker's marks and a geometric meander border.

Unlike a tobacco pipe, the opium pipe was designed especially to allow resinous opium to be vaporized, rather than burned. Consequently, opium pipes have a distinctive form, featuring a long pipe-stem with a mouthpiece at one end and a pipe bowl affixed by a metal saddle two-thirds down the pipe. The opposite end of the stem would remain sealed, ensuring all airflow passed through pipe-bowl.