The Igorot and their specific pipes

February 2020

This tobacco pipe is an attractive ethnographic object from the Philippines. The northern islands of that country are home to six tribes, known under the collective name Igorot, that use different types of pipes. The most characteristic are the pipes made of brass with a small bowl and a straight stem. The upright bowl usually has a heel shape at the bottom, often with an eye to secure the separate stem with a chain to the pipe bowl. At this pipe nothing more than an eye was left of this heel. The lock chain often serves as a hanger for all kinds of curiosities as we see with this pipe. A wooden cleaning tool for the pipe is the first, with a cut edge. There are also two teeth mounted on ta ring, a reminder of successful hunting. The global pedigree of this item is special. In the 1970s this pipe was in the Ken Erickson collection in the United States. Benjamin Rapaport later published the pipe, falsely labeling it African. Eventually, in 2005 this object ended up in the famous collection of metal pipes of Felix van Tienhoven from Geldrop. With the bequest of his collection, handed over to our museum last year, the world trip of this tobacco pipe came to a final end.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 23.545

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