Ping Zhan: Sandblasted Acorn with Bamboo and Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

While many stylistic elements define Ping Zhan's portfolio, this Acorn rendition is the Chinese carver's most signature work. It's a reinterpretation of a reinterpretation, riffing off of Hiroyuki Tokutomi's bent and straight takes on the Sixten Ivarsson Acorn. The form itself is a microcosmic example of the artisan pipemaking world — carvers of decades passed influencing current makers who will, no doubt, inform generations to come.

In this particular piece from Ping, the general form is maintained in the shank and stem's gestural flow and the bowl's plumpness flaring from out of a tucked transition. Compared to his other renditions, though, this piece is markedly different in its accented materials. Previously, we've most often seen the shape fitted with a horn shank extension, carved in Zhan's conventional style to resemble bamboo. Here, however, the Chinese artisan has utilized an actual stretch of bamboo topped with a ring of boxwood. Comprised of four craggy knuckles, the organic material displays a touch more robustness than usually seen on Ping's designs, balancing out the piece's visual weight and accentuating the bowl's slender taper toward the slightly protruding heel. A gorgeous pipe from Ping as he offers yet another unique rendition of a shape for which he's become well-known.