Native American Pottery

XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina

XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina
XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina

XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina

Ancient Art, Antiques, & Fine. XLG Native American Tribal Pipe. If one truly understands the Medicine Pipe then one comprehends the infinite Universe.

For all is reflected in the Pipe. This HUGE ceremonial, Native American pipe is made of fine, burnished earthenware and was made by a member of the Catawba Nation. "Catawba" can be translated as The People of the River.

This pipe has several chips and cracks, and one of the stems was broken and has been poorly reattached with excess glue. Still, an extremely rare find and highly collectable. Two of the four stems of the pipe show chips and or repair.

One stem shows stable crack. Provenance: Ex-museum in Pella, Iowa.

My source states it does not look like one of her pieces and he should know as they made pottery together while she was growing up. So I will leave it up to the experts to decide. This pipe was on display at a Museum in Pella, Iowa, for many years until the owners of the museum passed away and the museum was closed. This very large, ceremonial 4-Stem Tribal Pipe was designed to be smoked by four tribal elders or chiefs. Catawba (People of the River) legends states that the two Catawba and two Cherokee chiefs first smoked such a pipe to end a war between them many, many, years ago. As with other tribes, the Catawba considered smoking part of a sacred or spiritual journey, and all pipes would have been blessed and used only by men to communicate with ancestors and spirits of another world. Catawba potters were thought to have used two traditional methods to construct their pots and massive pipe like this one: the coil building technique and the pinch technique. To make the pipe, the potter started out with a small disk of clay to serve as the bottom of the pipe. Next, coils of clay were rolled out and stacked one on top of another on the base. The coils are pinched and smoothed upward to shape the pipe and thin the walls. Finally, the four pipe stems were added. Once the basic form of the pipe was constructed and allowed to completely dry, the potter would have smoothed the surface to remove all irregularities and to thin and smooth the inside of the pipe's bowl. The last task is to rub the surface of the pot with a smooth rubbing stone. Often these stones were handed down from one generation of potter to the next. This is the process that gives Catawba pottery its beautiful polished surface.

Finally the polished pot is fired in an open fire. Exposure to flames and smoke gives Catawba pottery its distinctive mottled appearance. This basic process is still used today by the Catawba Nation's potters to make wonderful pots and bowls. All photos taken indoors and the wooden stand and AA battery are not part of the sale, just there so you can better judge the size.

Each object I sell is professionally researched and compared with similar objects in the collections of the finest museums in the world. When in doubt, I have worked with dozens of subject matter experts to determine the condition and authenticity of numerous antiquities and antiques.

All sales are Final, unless I have seriously misrepresented this item! Please look at the 4x macro photos carefully as they are part of the description.

Member of the Authentic Artifact Collectors Association (AACA) & the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). The item "XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Carolina" is in sale since Thursday, March 21, 2019. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Cultures & Ethnicities\Native American\ US\1935-Now\Pottery".

The seller is "houghton-usa" and is located in Sequim, Washington. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada.
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Artisan: Sara Ayers
  • Origin: South Carolina
  • Tribal Affiliation: Catawaba

XLG Native American/Indian Ceremonial 4-Stem Pipe! Catawba Nation, S. Carolina