I found this at a thrift store this morning! Is it a opium pipe? (the manager thought it was) If not what is it/was it for? Where is it from? (looking at it straight on from the front it looks like a Peruvian indian? Native American indian? What is it made of? Any idea of it's age? Any help would be appreciated - I don't know what I have!
I have found a few similar pipes, described as opium pipes from Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma). The figure on the front of yours may be a simplified version of a mythological bird, Garuda, (with his tail behind the bowl), as on this example: https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/26194...-silver-plated-thailand-asia-around-1950-1990 https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/17727...-asia-china-or-thailand-2nd-half-20th-century Perhaps @Any Jewelry may be able to say more.
It is not an opium pipe, that large bowl doesn't work for opium. Most traditional Asian pipes are for smoking medicinal herbs or tobacco, and that is what this was likely used for. Most of the similar pipes I come across are described as being made by the Shan, an ethnic minority who mostly live in Burma (Myanmar). I don't know the exact use of the pipes, but the Garuda, the divine bird from Hinduism, adds a spiritual link to the pipe, which points in the direction of healing or ritual. I think yours and the ones on Catawiki are probably made for export or tourism, but they are very nice. Below is an older Burmese pipe bowl with a praying figure, much like a Teppanom, a Thai and Burmese guardian angel, so also a spiritual figure: https://bronzesofindia.com/smoking-pipe/
