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1938.34.94

Side-blown trumpet of ivory, mouthpiece in middle of convex side, ornamental ring carved around wide end. Small shallow embouchure.

On display

1938.34.94

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Side-blown trumpet of ivory, mouthpiece in middle of convex side, ornamental ring carved around wide end. Small shallow embouchure.
Long description
Old side-blast trumpet of ivory, mouthpiece in middle of convex side, ornamental ring carved around wide end. Small shallow embouchure.
Geographical reference
Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria
Benin City
Cultural groups
Edo
Person
Field collector Thomas William Taphouse
PRM source Henry Balfour
PRM source Thomas William Taphouse
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1906
Date collected
By 1906 probably 1897
Acquisition information
Bequeathed: 1939
Materials and processes
Material Elephant Tooth Ivory Animal, Process Perforated, Process Decorated, Process Carved
Dimensions
Width: max 21 mm bell, Length: max 20 mm mouth hole, Depth: max 19 mm bell, Length: max 415 mm, Width: max 9 mm mouth hole
Object numbers
Accession number: 1938.34.94
Research and responses

This object was probably acquired before 1899 by antiquities dealer William Downing Webster, who was notorious for acquiring and dealing objects taken from Benin City during the British military attack of 1897. It is a very likely match to lot 138 (6444) in Webster Catalogue 21 (1898-1899), which is illustrated with a photograph and listed as ‘Ivory war horn, carved at end, 16 1/4 inches long (Benin City)’. The object was likely purchased by Thomas William Taphouse in 1900, when he is known to have purchased other looted Benin objects from Webster Catalogue 21. It was certainly in the possession of Taphouse by 1905, when it was purchased from him by Henry Balfour, who bequeathed it to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1939. [JMC 14/04/2023]

Associated publications
Reproduced in black and white as figure 18 on page 21 of Symbols of Kings: Benin Art at the Pitt Rivers Museum, by Linda Mowat (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1991). [JC 10 3 1997]. Listed as no B9/66 on p. 2.1.33 in Philip J. C. Dark, An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art, Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1982.

Search terms: Music, Musical Instrument, Trumpet

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