Petite Mapuche Stone Tobacco Pipe

**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, southwestern Argentina or south-central Chile, Mapuche people, ca. 1500 CE. A fine smoking pipe, carved from a mottled brown stone and covered with traces of silvery grey deposits. The pipe has a stocky rectangular body, a conical mouthpiece protruding from one end, and a cylindrical receptacle projecting from the opposite end. Pipe forms like this example were favored for ritual pipe smoking in ancient Chile. Pipes were also symbolic gifts exchanged between different cultural groups throughout ancient Chile and Argentina, and styles made in different regions have been found far afield from their lands of origin. Size: 2.5" L x 1.125" H (6.4 cm x 2.9 cm)

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Bettina Schwimmer collection, Chicago, Illinois, USA, collected from 1955-2006

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#150555
Condition Report: Old nicks/chips to rims of spout and receptacle. A few nicks here and there to the body of the pipe. Scattered earthen deposits and traces of silvery grey deposits that have developed over the course of centuries.