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1884.111.3

Panpipes, consisting of five pipes tied with three lengths of plant fibre.

On display

1884.111.3

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Collection type
Object
Description
Panpipes, consisting of five pipes tied with three lengths of plant fibre.
Geographical reference
Tonga
Oceania > Polynesia > Tonga
Unknown
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1874
Date collected
Prior to 1874
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material Reed Plant, Material Plant Fibre, Process Bound
Dimensions
Width: max 42 mm, Length 172 mm longest pipe, Length 111 mm shortest pipe
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.111.3 PR Cat other PR nos: 2951
Associated publications
Illustrated in black and white in Figure 6a (left) on page 123 of 'A Study of Tongan Panpipes with a Speculative Interpretation', by Adrienne L. Kaeppler, in Ethnos, Vol. 39, nos 1-4 (1974), pp. 102-28. Caption (page 128): 'Fig. 6. Panpipes in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. a) (left), collection data unknown [1884.111.3], length 6 3/4 ". b) (right), collected by the Forsters on Cook's second voyage [1886.1.1560], length 9 3/4".' Kaeppler writes (page 109): 'A number of panpipes, presumably also from Tonga, with only five (or six) pipes is also found in museum collections.... Another is in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford (fig. 5 a [sic, actually 6a], in the original collection formed by General Pitt Rivers.... There is no evidence that...any of the five- of six-pipe variety... was actually collected in Tonga, and they may have been identified as Tongan by museum curators because of their double-beveled blowing end. The longest pipes of these five- or six-pipe panpipes range in size from 5 1/2 inches to 12 3/4 inches. The longest pipes in the nine- and ten-pipe panpipes range from 7 1/4 inches to 14 inches. Only nine- and ten-pipe specimens are found in the 18th century Tongan collections, and it would appear that the five- or six-pipe variety simply represents a smaller, more easily manufacured post-European style (if, indeed, they are Tongan).' Kaeppler also writes (page 114): 'In the 19th century they [Tongan panpipes] disappear from the record except for the five-pipe variety which may, by that time, have become mainly a toy.' [JC 5 7 2013]

Search terms: Music, Musical Instrument, Panpipes