Misc. Estates: Sabina Santos Smooth Bent Apple with Mammoth Tobacco Pipe

Sabina Santos is one of few artisan pipe makers in her home country of Portugal, with her distinctive style showing strong Danish inclinations. Her portfolio features impressive line work all throughout in pieces both traditional and playful, with this expressive bent Apple illustrating her deft craftsmanship. Santos has created a composition here that appears as if the bowl is gently nestled within the shank, an effect achieved through fine facet work, elegant curvature, and careful use of asymmetric cheeking. As such, the bowl is posed at the fore of a hearty, oval shank flanked by a pair of crisp panels, curving upward from a deeply cheeked transition and flaring broadly toward a generous accent of mammoth, then joining to a sleek, subtly downturned stem to form a fluid profile. The shank's panels continue into the bowl, tapering as they merge together at the heel. At the heel, the left flank's panel terminates, whereas the right flank's continues under the bowl and curves up to the rim, the end result creating a stunning effect, as if the bowl's walls are wrapping around themselves. In addition to its striking shaping, this piece boasts a handsome presentation, with the mammoth accent's creamy, swirling tones complementing the stummel's rich contrast stain, which reveals lively vertical grain across both flanks and trails of birdseye along the top and underside.