Paktong Chinese Water Pipe - Ca 1900 Origin - Tibet & Mongolia These glass lamps are known

These glass lamps are known in India as Handis or Hundis - originally named after a cooking pot

This is the first time that we have seen a chest of this style and it is reminiscent of the damchiyas of Kutch mixed with influences of Jaiselmer stick boxes

This chest would have been used as a dowry chest

The style is from Shandong province and has features found in both Shanxi & Jiangsu furniture styles

Paktong Chinese Water Pipe - Ca 1900 Origin - Tibet & Mongolia These glass lamps are knownThis Chinese nickel paktong water pipe would have been used to smoke tobacco & opium. The inlay is in celluloid. Heated opium or tobacco would be placed in the lidded well of this ornate water pipe and the fumes were inhaled through the pipe The first Opium war was triggered by the Qing dynasty's campaign against the British merchants who sold opium to Chinese merchants. Many Chinese people were addicted to it. These decorative pipes are a piece of