Sandblasted Brandy with Bamboo Tobacco Pipe

A long, tightly-oriented stretch of bamboo knuckles makes for an ambitious pairing to the large Brandy bowl of this piece from Roman Kovalev, and the whole thing just works. The shank's rhythm grows in intensity as the eye travels toward the bowl, where it's met with a stacked display of ultra-tight, concentric growth rings, rising to meet a soft, gently-inflated rim. At the opposing end, Roman's lent it an arrow-straight, succinct saddle-stem. For most, these cues would be the main topics of interest. But looking more closely, the Russian carver has done something quite special: with two accents of polymerized organics, he's managed to match and complement the shade and tone of the bamboo almost perfectly, providing a subtle treat for those choose to look for it.