Oboe, C
Date1763-1793 ca.
Place MadeNewark, Nottinghamshire, England, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedOn top joint and middle joint: MILHOUSEOn bell: MILHOUSE / NEWARK
Markingsnone
DescriptionA straight-top oboe in stained boxwood with brass ferrules (not original). Two brass keys.This instrument might have been made by Richard Milhouse Sr (1724-1775) or by his sons Richard Jr (1759-1845) or William (1761-after 1834). Straight-top oboes like this one were made without the usual complicated turned balusters and beadwork that was typical of other oboes from this era. From ca. 1740-1815, straight-tops were especially popular in England, where they were used in instrumental ensembles that accompanied choirs and congregational singing in country churches.
DimensionsLength: 568 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, A Catalog of the Double Reed Instruments in the Arne B. Larson Collection of Musical Instruments, MM thesis, University of South Dakota, 1968, No. 20
Cecil Adkins, "William Milhouse and the English Classical Oboe," Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 22 (1996): 42-88.
Phillip T. Young, 4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments: An Inventory of 200 Makers in International Collections (London: Tony Bingham, 1993), p. 158.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number02503
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