Poul Ilsted, after over thirty years of pipe making, is arguably most widely known for his exquisitely crafted paneled pipes, the precision of which has earned him the well-deserved reputation as the "Master of Facets." I've sat with the man, and watched him work. His skill seems almost inhuman as he puts briar to belt, lost in his creative thoughts, and out of the flurry of wood dust emerges a flawless gem. His hands move with the measured precision of a fine watchmaker, his eye and his heart are those of a true artist.

But, it is his bulldogs, and their many variations, that have always appealed to me most, and this is of little wonder; Poul himself readily admits to being "devoted to the bulldog." Indeed, over the years, his fascination with the form has manifested in hundreds of wonderful, artfully diverse examples, from squat and stout, to tall and strikingly statuesque, always with an iconic style that immediately makes their provenance unquestionably Ilsted. So profound is his influence on the shape, that it can often be read interpreted in the aesthetic vocabulary of other great Scandinavian makers.

The current piece displays that devotion in stunning three-dimensional relief. From the gorgeous, squashed hexagonal shank, illustrating the exactness of his faceting, to the beautiful proportion of the upper and lower bouts of the bowl, to the elegant application of horn on the perfectly sculpted mouthpiece, this bulldog could easily serve as the poster boy for Ilsted's mastery, and, that alone would be enough to make this pipe a centerpiece in any collection of his work, but when combined with the delicately waved, flawless grain that expresses itself round the full circumference of the lower section, and the explosion of birdseyes dotting the top and bottom in near perfect symmetry, it becomes almost impossible to imagine a better representation of "Mr. Bulldog's" artistry. This rare jewel is truly a magnificent pipe.

GLP