Danish Estates: Kent Rasmussen Smooth Volcano (Two Stars) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Denmark native Kent Rasmussen showed his artistic side early in life: As a child he made sculptures and drew sketches in his dad's workshop. As his life progressed, he worked across a variety of mediums, his formal education of architecture and engineering providing a sound background for his eventual foray into pipe making. After meeting with carver Teddy Knudsen, Kent ventured wholeheartedly into crafting pipes as art, and is known for his eclectic, sculptural work, of which this Volcano is a fine example.

Rife with precise line work, this sculptural piece is forward-ebbing in profile, its convex, paneled base boasting a crisp, wrapping ridgeline, as does the asymmetrical rim. In fact, a vertical, demarcating line connects rim to said base, with the left flank being paneled and flat. The right flank, however is more curvaceous and of course, still encircled by that continuous ridgeline. The deep bend at the wide transition makes for an alluring optical illusion of sorts: When viewed from above, the upwardly curling shank appears quite broad; in silhouette, it seems slender. The artisan has crafted a subtle, soft line across the top of the shank which tapers to meet the upward-flicking, rounded stem base, whereas the remainder of the hand-cut vulcanite turns gently downward. Displaying no small number of geometrical nuances, this pipe is wearing one of Kent's auburn contrast stains, his shaping of the briar along with all those lines set to best show off the grain. The entire underside of this piece boasts simply stunning whorls of birdseye, seen in all sorts of sizes, with smaller dots freckling the rim. The remainder of the stummel features tightly packed straight grain, the density and volume mesmerizing.