Skip Navigation

Carved and Inlayed Spiral Pipe Stem

Arts of the Americas

The Jarvis Collection of Native American Plains Art

The articles in this case and the adjacent clothing case are some of the earliest and finest Eastern Plains pieces in existence. They were collected by Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis, a military surgeon stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, between 1833 and 1836. He purchased some of the objects, while some may have been given in exchange for his medical services. These works display indigenous people’s ingenuity in combining trade materials such as cloth, metal, and glass beads with traditional hides, red pipestone, and porcupine and bird quills.
CULTURE Eastern, Sioux
MEDIUM Ash wood, lead
DATES early 19th century
DIMENSIONS 42 1/4 x 2 x 2 in. (107.3 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 50.67.93
CREDIT LINE Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund
PROVENANCE Prior to 1848, provenance not yet documented; by 1848, acquired by Nathan Sturges Jarvis; 1848, gift of Nathan Sturges Jarvis to the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY; 1937, loaned by the New-York Historical Society to the Brooklyn Museum; 1950, purchased from the New-York Historical Society by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Carved ash wood pipe in a spiral form. Decoration with lead inlays; a fish appears inside one of the spiral curves, and the flat section on the end has four thunderbirds inlaid on one side and two buffalo heads and two animals (bears?) on the other side. The spiral section is further decorated with burn marks from a searing tool.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Eastern, Sioux. Carved and Inlayed Spiral Pipe Stem, early 19th century. Ash wood, lead, 42 1/4 x 2 x 2 in. (107.3 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.93. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.93_detail1_SL4.jpg)
IMAGE detail, 50.67.93_detail1_SL4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
Eastern, Sioux. <em>Carved and Inlayed Spiral Pipe Stem</em>, early 19th century. Ash wood, lead, 42 1/4 x 2 x 2 in. (107.3 x 5.1 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.93. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.93_detail1_SL4.jpg)