Old Clay Pipe Bowl with Face and Legs, Presumed Native American antique can There is a thin hairline

There is a thin hairline crack in the wood of the red-painted strip on top to which the hinges are attached

and appear regularly in Inuit sculpture

A piper piping away

almost exclusively to the blue paint (documented in one photo) but very little paint loss around the edges and overall bright and crisp

with motifs suggesting hearts and sun and stars and cascading waves

Old Clay Pipe Bowl with Face and Legs, Presumed Native American antique can There is a thin hairlineThis effigy pipe appears to be quite an old one, with great deepening to the color of the clay where it was clearly very often held. I love the serene looking, moon like face at the front, and then these wonderful little arms and legs incised into the sides, which make it seems look as if a creature of the water, ready to paddle its way across river or sea. I am not an expert but am confident it is Native American, and, based on the color and surface,