End-blown trumpet
Date1890-1910 ca.
Place MadeChina, Asia
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
DescriptionBrass; three telescoping segments; mouthpiece with extremely small cup and wide rim is an integral part of the first segment.
The laba is an end-blown metal trumpet of the Han Chinese. Like the Tibetan dung-chen it consists of several telescoping segments. The instrument is either straight or has a curved-back flaring bell, like the present example. The mouthpiece with wide flat rim and extremely small cup is characteristic. The instrument was introduced to China from India or Persia. Iconographical reference to the laba as military instrument is found as early as 200 BC. The laba serves a number of functions: as military instrument, and more recently as outdoor instrument for religious ceremonies, especially funerals, and as backstage instrument in theatrical performances.
DimensionsHeight: ca. 1170 mm
Tube length: 1278 mm
External diameter sections: 6-9 mm/11-14 mm/15-19 mm
Bell diameter: 118 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1992, Singapore.
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. 51, 282.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07067
On View
Not on view
1900-1959 ca.
1880-1899 ca.
