Italian Estates: Gabriele Smooth Bent Egg with Bamboo (Nautilus) Tobacco Pipe

While Gabriele Dal Fiume's pipe making style often reflects his appreciation for organic forms and nature, the bent Egg is a shape we rarely see from the Italian artisan compared to his Acorn and Tomato designs. This particular piece is a remarkably gestural bent Egg and is one of the more overtly Danish-inspired designs I've seen from Gabriele. It's especially evident in the bowl's supple curves, the smooth line work, and the striking extension of five knuckles of bamboo at the shank. The slanted rim is neatly chamfered and comes to a slight point along the fore, giving the bowl its implied forward-urging momentum in profile. The shank's bamboo fitment here lends the aft side a great deal of eye-catching aerial presence and poises the stem for comfortable smoking, its slight downturn completing an understated S-curve. Dressed in a warm, light stain, the bowl showcases dense birdseye through the fore and aft, while the flanks are striated by handsome cross grain, the bamboo complimenting the tones of the briar quite nicely.