About the Artwork
Power comes to individuals as a gift from the spirit world and ultimately from the Creator. The frog seated on the Frog Effigy Platform Pipe represents a spiritual intermediary through whom power flows. The act of smoking tobacco is intended as an offering, a gift in return for the spirit being's blessings. Note that the frog faces the smoker when the pipe is used.
Frog Effigy Platform Pipe
between 1st and 2nd century
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Native American
Havana
Clay
Overall (by sight): 2 × 2 3/4 × 1 1/4 inches (5.1 × 7 × 3.2 cm)
Sculpture
Indigenous Americas
Founders Society Purchase with funds from Flint Ink Corporation
1986.61
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
ca. 1958, found by S. R. Wolfolk (Troy, Missouri, USA).before 1980, John Taylor (Troy, Missouri, USA).
1984 (Robert Onkin, Manito, Illinois, USA);
ca. 1984, (John Baldwin, West Olive, Michigan, USA);
1987-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
"Notes on recent acquisitions." Bulletin of the DIA 64, no. 1 (1988): p. 55 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Havana, Native American, Frog Effigy Platform Pipe, between 1st and 2nd century, clay. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Flint Ink Corporation, 1986.61.
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