Smooth Cobra (Kikuchi) (H) (028) (2021) Tobacco Pipe

Asami Kikuchi's introduction to pipes came in a unique twist of fate, when as a young art student in her 20s she was given a chance through a professor to use the renowned Ikebana pipe workshop to create small wooden sculptures for a project. Fascinated by artisanal pipe making, at the end of the project she asked to stay and learn how to make pipes. Kazuhiro Fukuda, the resident master pipe maker, agreed to take her as an apprentice, and began a very formal, old-school method of teaching her his craft. In 2013 she was introduced to the world as the next Ikebana artisan.

While she clearly draws from Fukuda's mentorship, Kikuchi's art education and aesthetic inclinations make her work clearly identifiable as her own unique style. This Cobra is a fine example of her portfolio, with a smooth, curvaceous underside that rests easily in hand as the fore just begins to lift its head to strike. The flaring curvature of the snake's head is rendered here with crisply defined linework on the flanks, with concave facets on the upper margins, a difficult feature to carve, executed perfectly to create a lithe, reptilian flow. The flanks are paneled, narrow at first, but widening and splitting to sweep around the rim of the forward-canted bowl. The shank end maintains the wider stance of the shank, in a sleek, gestural mirror of the juxtaposed rim.

Kikuchi has made masterful use of the grain, with uniform striations of flame grain all around the paneled perimeter and an ocean of birdseye filling the broad underside like densely packed scales. A lighter stain and smooth finish dress the pipe perfectly, illuminating the grain without lessening the visual impact of the brilliant linework. A thin brass ring is inlaid in the shank face, providing an elegant receptacle for a push-style stem. Diminutive and with a charming curve, a lithely bent saddle stem completes the piece without drawing attention away from the beautiful stummel. This pipe is so perfectly balanced that it sits stably even though the entire underside is quite curved, a feat of engineering that is hard to believe, and I confess to poking at the snake several times to test its balance, yet never managed to upset it. One part fine art sculpture and one part superb smoking instrument, this pipe would be a success as either, but as both is nothing less than a masterpiece.