Smooth Pheasant with Black and White Ebony (Viking) Tobacco Pipe

Sweeping and upright, this Pheasant from Tonni Nielsen is presented in a light contrast stain opulently highlighting the tight flame grain encompassing the bowl. A vertically oriented, lenticular cross section defines the shank, expanding dramatically to the exotic and remarkably grained accent of black-and-white ebony wood, which rides the base of the stem rather than the end of the shank.

The subtlest of scallops shapes the rim, lending the bowl a touch more presence at the fore and aft, and the Egg-like bowl is shapely and defined, its contours supported by a tight transition maintaining the lower bowl's disposition. Careful scrutiny has left me only more impressed. There's nothing not to love here. Saturated with refinement and understatement, this Pheasant will inspire no excuses — only admiration. Certainly a piece deserving of Nielsen's prestigious Viking stamp — the carver's highest grade.