Smooth Snail Tobacco Pipe

Curling and horizontally compressed, this Snail from Ken Dederichs offers spectacular grain angling up from the crisp ridgeline that defines the curved panel running through the underside of the shank, and that panel is absolutely percolating with birdseye. The forward arc of the bowl is echoed by the upward-curling aspect of the top of the shank, both arcs contributing to the compressed aspect of the piece's length.

Ken Dederichs's style tends to fuse the elegant yet firm German school with a Tokutomi-esque organicism, and that combination is on display in this Snail shape. The upward flick of the shank end, the paneling of the bowl, and the long teardrop lines of the piece all serve to create a design that is at once well-structured and fluid of form.