Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Tarascan culture, ca. 1450 to 1520 CE. A superb pair of hand-built terracotta pipes, each painted with lustrous russet-hued slip and featuring a lively rendering of a serpent's head, likely a rattlesnake as both hollow heads previously held petite rattles. Each snake head rests on a trapezoidal plinth situated in front of a bowl-shaped chamber with a flared rim, a receptacle for whatever substance was smoked, perhaps peyote. The long stem of each pipe is adorned with delicate, sinuous clay appliques that twist around one another creating a motif of five circles along the top of the vessel and ending in a straight ridged rattlesnake tail that points towards the narrow blow hole. Size: 10.25" L x 1.625" W (26 cm x 4.1 cm)
Smoking pipes played an important role in Mesoamerican society. In addition to tobacco, and often prior to it, we know from ethnohistorical accounts that people smoked a variety of other plants, including dogwood, juniper, sumac, and bearberry. These pipes were not just made for the simple act of smoking; scholars have posited that they also had a ritualistic purpose.
Provenance: private Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA collection; ex-Dr. David Harner collection, Springdale, Arkansas, USA, acquired between the 1950s and 1960s
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#161404
Condition
Both have been repaired from at least three pieces. Tip of blow hole and all of snake head besides tongue missing on smaller pipe. Larger piece has top of head missing. Both have expected surface wear with abrasions and nicks/chips in some areas. Excellent remaining pigments.