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The Cherokee used such effigy pipes in a ritual referred to in recent times as the Booger Dance. Many of these pipes were also traded to the Lenape (Delaware) and other Indigenous people in Ohio during the late 18th century. In the 1880s, Will Peckerwood was one of the last active carvers among the Eastern Cherokee. At that time, these carvings were sold to local storekeepers and tourists.
Books were seen as powerful by Natives, and the Cherokee developed their own alphabet. The carving on this pipe bowl represents a man reading a book; the pleasure of smoking a pipe while reading may have inspired the carver. Engraved on the book's right leaf are the letters "DB/Ch." Although there can be regional variations as well as differences in dialects in the Cherokee language, the DB can be translated to mean "I" or "we" and Ch can mean "our best" or "powerful." (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceGeorge Terasaki, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.39.
Power, Susan C. Art of the Cherokee: Prehistory to the Present. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2007 pg. 90, fig 19.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 18.
Culture
Eastern Cherokee
Pipe Bowl
Datec. 1880
MediumStone
DimensionsOverall: 2 1/2 × 1 × 3 3/4 in. (6.4 × 2.5 × 9.5 cm)
Object numberT0006
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextSelf-directed effigy pipes have a long history in the eastern Woodlands, in some regions continuing in the 19th century. Starting about 1750, the Cherokee produced large numbers of a distinctive type of stone-carved pipebowl, decorated with effigies of bears, squirrels and human figures, all of them facing the smoker. (c.f. Maurer 1977, p.79; Witthoft 1949, pl.2; Krickeberg 1954, pl.45-E) These pipes were made of green or grey steatite or of a dark grey shale from local sources, attached to stems carved from willow-wood. Stylistically these Cherokee pipes are more reminiscent of Plains effigy carvings than of any other effigy pipes from the eastern Woodlands.The Cherokee used such effigy pipes in a ritual referred to in recent times as the Booger Dance. Many of these pipes were also traded to the Lenape (Delaware) and other Indigenous people in Ohio during the late 18th century. In the 1880s, Will Peckerwood was one of the last active carvers among the Eastern Cherokee. At that time, these carvings were sold to local storekeepers and tourists.
Books were seen as powerful by Natives, and the Cherokee developed their own alphabet. The carving on this pipe bowl represents a man reading a book; the pleasure of smoking a pipe while reading may have inspired the carver. Engraved on the book's right leaf are the letters "DB/Ch." Although there can be regional variations as well as differences in dialects in the Cherokee language, the DB can be translated to mean "I" or "we" and Ch can mean "our best" or "powerful." (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceGeorge Terasaki, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.39.
Power, Susan C. Art of the Cherokee: Prehistory to the Present. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2007 pg. 90, fig 19.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 18.
On View
Not on view1400-1500
1825-1850
