End-blown trumpet
Date1850 ca.
Place MadeEastern, Tibet, Asia
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
DescriptionThis short trumpet has a brass body with silver embellishments, especially around the central knob and bell. Often, perforated knobs like this were used to support or disguise joints in the tubing.
While rkang gling can be either of metal or bone, metal instruments are preferred for ensemble playing as they are louder and offer more immediate response, allowing greater articulation. Shamans of both Buddhist and Bon traditions employ rkang gling in many rituals, usually holding the trumpet in the left hand, the hand of “wisdom,” and often paired with a damaru, in the right hand, the hand of “method.”
DimensionsLength: 340 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1976 from H. M. Lissauer, Melbourne, Australia.
Published ReferencesCross, Thomas E., Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet, SMM Catalog Vol. II (1982), p. 26.Cross, Thomas E., Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet, M.M. Thesis, University of South Dakota, May 1983, p. 64, plate XXIV."Important Acquisitions Received," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc., Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 1 (October 1976), p. 2.
Credit LineRingley Fund, 1976
Object number01375
On View
Not on view
1800 ca.
1850 ca.
1850 ca.
1875 ca.
1850 ca.
1885-1899 ca.