Yang Kun: Sandblasted Erotique (247) Tobacco Pipe

Yang Kun is a Chinese artisan whose years of work in the film and television makeup industry and intense love for the Danish school of pipe carving have combined to lend him a uniquely organic and wholly expressive carving style. Originally conceptualized by Danish artisan Jørn Micke, the Erotique is an explicitly anatomically-inspired shape that's been rendered in a variety of interpretations. Here, Kun has carved the shape in remarkably compact dimensions, measuring in at less than five inches long but boasting a remarkable stoutness throughout its construction. The transition is wide and nearly parabolic, as the shank's brevity gives way to a flaring end, this flared end nearly matching the bowl's height as it expands dramatically out to a firm ridge. From this ridge, the edge of the shank's end slopes into another ridge that surrounds a concave face carved with an inset area for the tenon and stem base to seat and create a more cohesive composition. The stem itself is a short, subtly curved saddle of black vulcanite with an expansion ring at the end of the base, stylistically matching the flared shank and balancing some of the bowl's visual weight. The bowl itself is rotund and Tomato-like, with a squat and compressed build that actually boasts more breadth than height. All of this breadth is divided by a central cleft that starts just above the transition and comes to rest at the heel, where it splits subtly into a Y-shape and creates a slightly raised area of shank for added textural intrigue. The halves of the bowl cant slightly to the left and display an organic asymmetry, maintaining a softly curvaceous, ovoid appearance and offering a plump, muscular feel in hand. Dressed in a crisp, auburn-hued sandblast, the stummel reveals stacks of ring grain flowing down the walls of the bowl, while both the rim and underside display blasted birdseye: these crisp textures contrasted nicely by the smooth finish of the shank face.