Producer unknown to us
Tobacco pipe head
Americas, Eastern North America
18th/19th century
Stone, carved, pipe head depicting a bear
Collection context unknown to us
Donated to the museum by Everett Rassiga (art dealer) in 1979
NAm 4995
This tobacco pipe head is made of black stone. Its design, depicting a bear on its top, shows the style cultivated among the Cherokee in the late 18th and 19th centuries, where ornamental figures or groups of figures were often arranged in front of the pipe bowl. Throughout human history, smoking has been considered a means of communicating with the supernatural. In North America, too, smoking tobacco was widely used in religious ceremonies, and to affirm contracts and decisions. Therefore, smoking utensils such as this pipe head are often manifestations of spiritual power.
Everett Rassiga (1922–2003) was a US art dealer who was under investigation in several Latin American countries for looting archaeological sites and smuggling cultural patrimony. In 1974, he contacted the museums in Leipzig and Dresden, arranged extensive exchanges of objects, and donated several exhibits. As early as the 1970s, state authorities in the GDR began investigating these exchanges, suspecting that Rassiga was trying to take advantage of the museums. Historical research suggests a temporal connection – after 1970, when international laws began to regulate the trade in art objects in an effort to curb smuggling, art dealers such as Rassiga sought to do business with museums in Eastern Europe, where international (Western) control authorities had less influence.
Due to Rassiga’s poor reputation, the authenticity of this piece has also been questioned in the inventory records. So far, it has not been possible to establish the authenticity beyond doubt by means of dating, or style analysis.
Frank Usbeck