Tonni Nielsen: Smooth Pheasant with Boxwood (Viking)

Tonni Nielsen's signature Pheasant shape is just a lovely design through and through. While each rendition we receive is slightly different than the last, they all seem to share a common theme: a paneled shank coming to defined edges along either flank, a lifting sweeping gesture in profile, a plump Egg-like bowl, and a touch of asymmetry in the slight undulation to the rim. This particular Viking grade example certainly hits all those cues, yet it also features a more Billiard-esque bowl, with less forward cant and a lower-set waistline than previous iterations. The shank itself bears a more obvious taper as well, allowing the eye to follow its sweeping form naturally from transition to bit, and the S-curve is a bit less pronounced — shifting more visual weight to the heel and giving the bowl itself an almost Italian neo-classical look in profile. As you would expect from one of Nielsen's Viking grades, the grain is simply stunning — a bold flame pattern highlighted through a warm, medium walnut contrast stain and accented by a broad band of boxwood.