Smooth Blowfish (1708) Tobacco Pipe

Li Zhesong boasts an undeniable affinity for Danish classics, with evidence of influence on his work from the likes of Jess, Bo Nordh, and of course, Sixten Ivarsson. It's curious, then, that the Chinese carver had yet to present us with his rendition of the traditional Blowfish shape, one with roots in the Danish school. We've seen those which turned that archetype thoroughly on its head (both literally and figuratively, as the Fish rendition we saw was defined by its vertical arrangement of cross-grain), but this Blowfish beautifully adheres to the shape-chart standard form, with bulbous rounded flanks framed by a stacked cross-grain right down the center. Along with that, the multifaceted shank makes use of crisp linework to draw the eye to the aforementioned bowl, and the lighter hardwood mount is asymmetrically arranged, countering the disposition of the form itself, with a leftward-ebbing bowl from the smoker's perspective.

- Daniel Bumgardner