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I have what I originally thought was a type of Asian opium pipe, which on further research it its not. Could somebody identify this for me please? I know a bit about ceramics and it is made from stoneware with what I think is a Japanese style ink decoration. It is also signed on the base of the piece by the artist. I wasn't able to capture the length of the steel pipe that sits in the vessel but I have pictures from above the side and front. Thank you for your help.

I have a similar apparatus but made with decorated wooden sides which I bought circa the early 1990's in a Mekong marketplace at Nongkhai, Thailand. It was sold to me as a made in Vietnam opium lamp, but like yours has an attached needle of the type used to dab opium onto the business end of a pipe. There's no reason to think it is any older than the day I bought it. It is about eight inches tall.

My lamp lacks the iron attachment of yours, which looks in your pictures like it might be a handle for toting the lamp around. I would guess that yours might have been made in Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia as well. Reproduction but often functional opium-smoking paraphernalia is widely sold at tourist stops along the border of North and Northeastern Thailand. A goodly amount of such handicrafts sold on the Thai side of the Mekong in recent years have come from Laos and Vietnam.

Best regards,

Bill H.

thank you for your reply Bill. I bought it a flea market in Daylesford Australia around 2006.. Just such an interesting object ..

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