Smooth Fish with Ivorite Tobacco Pipe

Hailing from Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Wandi Riyadi is one of few artisans from the nation, inspired by the artistry of handmade pipes from carvers such as Bo Nordh, Hiroyuki Tokutomi, and Sixten Ivarsson. As such, Riyadi's work boasts an impressively Danish and Japanese-influenced style that values complex, organic detail, sophisticated structure, and rich curves. We've seen few Fish in the past from Riyadi, and this particular piece is a good example of his more restrained take on the shape, being a precise and balanced pipe that eschews any overt dramatism. The transition is tight, and it gives way to a thick, flaring shank that curls up and reaches out to a domed saddle stem of black vulcanite, completing a comfortable S-curve in silhouette. The shank and stem meet at a junction marked by a broad, thin ring of Ivorite, whose outline mirrors the shank's teardrop-like shaping, with a curved, ovoid outline at the right side that tapers through to a point on the left side. This pointed area manifests as a lengthy ridgeline that runs the entire length of the shank, plunging down through the transition before curving under the bowl and rising through the fore to terminate at the rim, naturally drawing the eye from one side to the other. The bowl is a plump, pert, bulb of briar that stands on a rounded heel and grows thick walls supported by a broad, low-set waist, a Brandy-like taper to the inflated rim keeping the feel in hand comfortable. Dressed in a warm, rich stain, the stummel showcases impressive grain throughout, with dense streaks of flame following the shank and even the raised ridge, with the slim fan of flame across this ridge remaining unbroken throughout. More flame surrounds the bowl in a dense wall, framed by a crown of birdseye at the rim and an ocean of the swirling grain through the underside.