Originally listed at $200

Near East, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, ca. mid-19th century CE. A collection of 3 tophane pottery pipe bowls with integral stem sockets, used for smoking tobacco, with highly burnished red surfaces. The clay is molded into rosette shapes around the receptacle bases on 2, which are further decorated with impressed Islamic motifs. The 31% (equivalent to 7K+) gold gilt pipe contains Arabic script on the underside. Heavy encrustations inside the bowls of all three from use. Size: 4" L x 2.5" W x 2.5" H (10.2 cm x 6.4 cm x 6.4 cm); gold quality: 31.43% (equivalent to 7K+)

Please note this was part of the Leavitt Hunt collection. Hunt (1831 to 1907) was a lawyer, world traveler, and photographer and the first American, if not the first person, to make a photographic record of the Near East and Mediterranean, during his "Grand Tour" from 1851 to 1852, alongside his friend, Nathan Flint Baker (1820-1891). Hunt and Baker captured calotype images of some of the greatest ancient ruins of the Classical World, and these prints are invaluable early artistic photographs as well as historical records of the sites, and several were donated by Hunt's family to the Library of Congress as part of the permanent collection, as well as other institutions. Besides taking photos, artifacts were personally collected by Hunt in the various countries he visited, including these.

Please note this was part of the Leavitt Hunt collection. Hunt (1831 to 1907) was a lawyer, world traveler, and photographer and the first American, if not the first person, to make a photographic record of the Near East and Mediterranean, during his "Grand Tour" from 1851 to 1852, alongside his friend, Nathan Flint Baker (1820-1891). Hunt and Baker captured calotype images of some of the greatest ancient ruins of the Classical World, and these prints are invaluable early artistic photographs as well as historical records of the sites, and several were donated by Hunt's family to the Library of Congress as part of the permanent collection, as well as other institutions. Besides taking photos, artifacts were personally collected by Hunt in the various countries he visited, including this piece.

Provenance: ex-Natalie Capron, Vermont, USA, 1972 to 2008, now by her heirs; ex-Maurice Crandall, Vermont, 1941 to 1972; ex-Clyde du Vernet Hunt, Vermont, 1916 to 1941; ex-Katherine Jarvis Hunt, Vermont, 1907 to 1916; ex-Leavitt Hunt, Vermont, collected 1851 to 1852

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#174405

Losses to bowl and stem on gilt pipe, and chips to gilt. Chips and nicks to rims and stems on the others. Heavy encrustations and residue from use within the bowls of all three.