Curved cornetto
Date1600 ca.
Place MadeGermany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
DescriptionLowest note with all tone holes closed: a
One-piece ivory with engravings filled with black and gold pigments; curved to the right; octagonal, upper part with carved diamonds; internally stepped receiver; six fingerholes and a thumbhole. Hardly any signs of use.
Ivory mouthpiece reproduction by John McCann.
Similarities with other decorated ivory cornetti, especially those from the court of the Dukes of Württemberg in Stuttgart (Landesmuseum Württemberg, KK 98 and KK 100), suggest that this cornetto was made as a collector's item.
DimensionsHeight: 569 mm
Tube length: 577 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum): 10.9 mm, 8.3 mm
Bell diameter (internal): 24.5 mm
Thumbhole position (from receiver): 227 mm
Fingerhole position (from receiver): 260 mm, 299 mm, 340 mm, 388 mm, 431 mm, 474 mm
Hole diameter range: 6.1-7.3 mm
ProvenancePreviously owned by Barons Albert and Nathaniel von Rothschild, Vienna, Austria, whose art collection was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938. Returned to the Rothschild family in 1998 by the Austrian state; in the interim, on loan to the Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Purchased from Christie's auction house in London, July 8, 1999.
Published ReferencesKlaus, Sabine Katharina. "Metallblasinstrumente im Zeitalter des Erfindergeistes," in: Conny Restle und Christian Breternitz (eds.), Valve Brass Music: 200 Jahre Ventilblasinstrumente (Berlin: Nicolai, 2014), p. 15.
Shapreau, Carla J. "Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Report, 2014: The Vienna Archives: Musical Expropriation During the Nazi Era and 21st Century Ramification," University of California, Berkley Papers (2014), p. 40.
Klaus, S. K. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 2: Ways to Expand the Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2013), pp. 80. 83-86, 88, 90, 253.
Klaus, S. K. "Ivory Cornetto," International Trumpet Guild Journal 32, no. 3 (March 2008), p. 34.
Oleskiewicz, Mary. "The Rise of Italian Chamber Music," in: George B. Stauffer (ed.), The World of Baroque Music: New Perspectives (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), p. 50, and plate 9.
Klaus, S. K. "Persistent 'Detective Work' Sheds new Light on two Precious Ivory Cornetti in the Utley Collection," America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 28, no. 1 (February 2001), pp. 4-5.
Klaus, S.K. "Zwei Elfenbein-Zinken aus Süddeutschland?" in: Christian Ahrens and Gregor Klinke (eds.), Zur Geschichte von Cornetto und Clarine (Munich: Katzbichler, 2001), pp. 35-50.
"The Collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild," Christie’s London 8 July 1999, no. 41.
Larson, André P. "Rare Ivory Zink Bought at Rothschild Auction," America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newletter 26, no. 3 (August 1999), p. 7.
Larson, A. P. "Recent Acquisitions," America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 26, no. 4 (November 1999), p. 6.
Fontana, Eszter. "The Manufacture of Ivory Cornetti," Galpin Society Journal 36 (1983), p. 36.
Overton, Friend Robert. Der Zink (Mainz: Schott, 1981), pp. 118, 245.
Tarr, Edward H. "Ein Katalog erhaltener Zinken," Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis 5 (1981), p. 259.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07368
On View
On view
1580-1620 ca.
1600 ca.
1700 ca.
