Yang Kun: Sandblasted Blowfish (U2418) 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. This is actually the first Blowfish we've seen from Kun during his tenure on `our site, and it's a faithful interpretation of the modern classic shape that maintains the profile's iconic elements across an impressively compact form. Measuring less than five inches long, this piece yet maintains a substantial feel in hand, with ample thickness present through its stummel that results in a sturdy character. The transition is acute, though wide enough to drape a digit if necessary, and it gives way to a subtly lifting, curling shank framed by a sextet of panels that grant it a hexagonal shape. This hexagonal framing extends through the base of the saddle stem, which additionally continues the shank's flare before it dips into the slim and understatedly downturned bit. The lower three ridges that surround this shank directly contribute to the structure of the bowl, with the two at the flanks pushing out and forming a pair of fin-like structures on the lower aft sides of the bowl. From here, the lines continue and wrap around to form twin asymmetric panels that define the shape's iconic look, with the right flank displaying a smaller paneled area in comparison to the left. The lowermost ridge on the shank flows through the entire underside of the stummel and curls around at the fore, where it curves around the rim and meets the leftmost lower ridge to finish framing the left panel: this slight alteration of the pipe's lines creates a slightly softer, more curvaceous look at the lower left side of the bowl and tempers the geometrical firmness of the composition nicely. Further asymmetry is developed through a slight bit of central curve through the stummel that tilts the bowl toward the right, and this not only enhances the impact of other asymmetric elements, but it lends the composition some implied momentum, as if it were actively swimming at a comfortable pace. Dressing this piece is a crisp, inky sandblast that reveals rippling growth rings across the midsection, striated by visual flame grain, as the bowl's panels reveal blasted birdseye.