Ivory side-blown trumpet with lozenge-shaped mouthpiece setting with circular opening on the concave side, and fingerhole at proximal end [RTS 3/12/2004].

Collection type: Object
Description: Ivory side-blown trumpet with lozenge-shaped mouthpiece setting with circular opening on the concave side, and fingerhole at proximal end [RTS 3/12/2004].
Long description: Side-blown trumpet carved from a single piece of yellowish coloured ivory that varies in tone across the surface (Pantone 7509C and 7402C), hollowed out, and then highly polished on the outer surface. There are vertical tool marks on the interior walls, which are also blackened, suggesting that pyro techniques may have been used to shape this piece. This has a narrow proximal end with flattened edge, oval in plan view but with a circular finger-hole cut through it for varying the note. Below this, the body is slightly concave sided before flaring out to the mouthpiece which has been carved as a thickened, lozenge-shaped area that stands proud of the upper and lower faces, and is less clearly defined on the sides, with a circular embouchure cut from the concave upper surface into the body of the trumpet. The rest of the body then follows the natural shape of the parent tusk, curving and tapering out to a wider bell mouth that is oval in plan view and has a narrow, fairly sharp lip. The object is complete, although there are numerous lines and scratches across the surface, representing tool marks that have not been removed. It has a weight of 405.1 grams, and is 380 mm long. The proximal end measures 17 by 13.2 mm across, and has a fingerhole that is 7 mm wide; the bell end measures 60 by 45 mm across its outer edges, with an internal opening 54 by 40 mm wide. The raised mouthpiece is 48.7 mm long and 27 mm wide, and the embouchure measures 15 mm in diameter. The length from the fingerhole to the edge of the embouchure is 76 mm [RTS 3/12/2004].
Geographical reference: South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan; Sudan, Republic of
Africa > Northern Africa > Sudan, Republic of
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector John Petherick; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1865?, uncertain
Date collected: 1853 - 1859 or 1861 - 1865
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Process Carved, Process Hollowed, Process Perforated, Process Polished
Dimensions: Diameter 15 mm mouth hole, Width: max 445 mm bell, Length 380 mm, Length: max 60 mm bell, Weight 405.1 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.112.3 PR Cat other PR nos: 3000
Research and responses: An early description of the Zande mentions their use of ivory trumpets: "some of the officers, or leaders, have large war trumpets made of elephant's tusks... they are sounded from the side, like a flute", illustrating examples made in a single piece, or of wood and ivory bound together (J.G. Wood, 1868, The Natural History of Man Vol. I, p. 493). [RTS 27/1/2004].
For a slightly simpler variant of this form, see the smaller ivory example 1886.1.522, attributed to the Bongo. For a larger version with more exaggerated mouthpiece setting, see 1884.112.30 [RTS 3/12/2004].
The term side-blown is preferred to side-blast for this type of object [RTS 6/12/2004, after pers. comm. HLR].

Search terms: Music, Musical Instrument, Trumpet