Kneeling Figure Effigy Pipe
1 of 6
Object Label
On this pipe, a male figure is depicted in a kneeling position with his torso leaning forward, hands on shins, and head upright. He is naked except for beaded bands on the biceps and wrists and just below the knees. The elaborate hairstyle includes two coils with braids terminating in knots hanging over the shoulders and a forelock across the forehead, decorated with beads. Scholars suggest that the figure’s posture, nakedness, and hairstyle were associated with shamanic religious practices and that the pipe was likely used by a healer or a priest who smoked tobacco to achieve a trancelike state.
Caption
Mississippian. Kneeling Figure Effigy Pipe, 1400–1500. Stone, pigment, 4 13/16 x 6 11/16 x 3 3/8 in. (12.2 x 17 x 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund, 37.2802PA. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.2802PA_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Kneeling Figure Effigy Pipe
Date
1400–1500
Geography
Possible place made: Georgia, United States, Possible place made: Tennessee, United States
Medium
Stone, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
4 13/16 x 6 11/16 x 3 3/8 in. (12.2 x 17 x 8.6 cm)
Credit Line
Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund
Accession Number
37.2802PA
Rights
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.
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