baxoje, the ioway nation, resources on the ioway or iowa indian tribe

Ioway Cultural Institute : Culture : Arts

Iowa or Sioux pipe bowl, c. 1840


Nebraska, South Dakota or Minnesota. Length 8 and 1/2 inches, height 3 and 5/8 inches. Catlinite.

This pipe has been attributed to the Iowa because it resembles the Black Bear clan pipe collected by Alanson Skinner in the Milwaukee Public Museum. However, it's also noted that its inverted conical bowl and slightly convex top relates closely to pipe bowls collected among the Sioux of Minnesota and the Middle Missouri region before 1850. It's suggested that many of the Iowa clan pipes collected by Skinner were acquired by the Iowa through trade.

DIA 81.44, Museum Purchase with funds from the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit and the Founders Society.

Photo from "Art of the American Indian Frontier" by David W. Penney. Copyright © The Detroit Institute of Arts. (Background of photo has been modified.)


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