Smooth Bent Dublin with Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

A Taiwanese carver who draws inspiration from the classic Danish tradition and modern American style of pipe design, Yuwei Huang here presents a bent Dublin showcasing both of those aesthetics. Inflated of rim and easy of gesture, the lines and transition are soft and supple, calling to mind the work of Danish artisans, but juxtaposed against the firmly flaring bowl and crisp ridgelines running through the flanks of the shank and around the lower bowl. The proportions, though, fall within the style of certain American carvers — hearty and muscular through the shank, the bowl's thick insulating walls support the palm-filling presentation, making for a rather compact piece that still maintains an impressive heftiness. It's all adorned in perfectly oriented grain: tongues of flame grain wrap the bowl while dense birdseye populates the rim and underside.