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Side-blown trumpet

Side-blown trumpet

Vernacular name:Towel
Date: 1900-1920 ca.
Place Made:Sepik River Region, Papua New Guinea, Asia
Serial No: none
Signednone
Markingsnone
DescriptionStained wood, carved with stone or bone, top with bird's ornament, oval mouthhole, body with circles, curlicues and crescents.

Single-note natural trumpets are generally used as signaling instruments in Papua New Guinea. Trumpets constructed from wood are common in the Sepik River Region. Historically, they have been used to announce the approach of a raiding or head-hunting party to an enemy village, or to signal the return of a war party to their home village.
DimensionsHeight: 583 mm
Effective tube length: ca. 317 mm
Mouthhole diameter: ca. 20-21 mm
Bell diameter 53 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1996 from Tony Bingham, London, England.
Credit Line: Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Not on view
Published ReferencesKlaus, Sabine Katharina. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 1: Instruments of the Single Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2012), pp. 20, 22, 278.
Object number: 07175