Bowl of an opium pipe made of highly polished Yixing pottery which is much prized in China. There is a mark on the side which has been polished away and another one which reads Sheng Jin (盛金) which is presumably the name of the maker. When smoking opium, a blob of opium was placed on the top of the bowl and a hole was pricked through the opium to the small hole in the bowl to allow the smoke to pass through when it was heated over an ‘opium lamp’. The bowl which is of a very good quality dates from the end of the Qing (1644 – 1912) to the early Republic period (1912 – 1947). Height 4.3 cm. Width 5.2 cm. Weight 67 grams.