Bowl shape from Bukhara

January 2025

Almost in the middle of Central Asia we find the town Bukhara, one of the oldest cities in Uzbekistan. Situated on the Silk Road, this place was a lively trading city for centuries. In Bukhara there was a coming and going of traders who transported products from east to west but also from north to south. This tobacco pipe, turned from green steatite or soapstone is a characteristic trade item for this area. The relatively soft steatite can be worked well with a simple lathe. This technique has been known for centuries as a cottage industry. Pipes like these were usually made from different pieces of stone that were glued together using a tap. The turning was polished and then provided with fine turned rings, usually in pairs that form a beautiful contrast with the tap welds. Steatite can be found almost everywhere in the world. This pipe will be made of stone from the Yarkland River basin that flows from Pakistan to Western China. If we look at the shape of the pipe, it corresponds to the hash pipe from India and Pakistan. The bowl-shaped head is particularly characteristic, as is the way in which the bowl tap falls into the stem. These pipes have been popular for smoking for a long time, certainly from well before 1850 up to the present day. The way they were made and the wear and tear through use reveal the dating. We recognize this pipe with a total length of twelve centimeters as an early twentieth-century product.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 24.902

Archive object of month