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Bagpipe (uilleann pipes)
Michel Egan (Irish, active 1845–1851)
about 1850
Object Place: Liverpool, England
Medium/Technique
Ebony, oak, ivory, brass, leather
Dimensions
Chanter length (without reed) 44.7 cm (17 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.1930
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Aerophones
DescriptionChanter, two drones, three regulators. Leather bag covered with plaid cotton. Three stocks. The bag is inflated by bellows embellished with a brass eagle marked with a figure '8.' Large stock, to which are attached drones and regulators, with a shut-off valve for drones. Short drone of ebony made in three parts with an elongated horn tip. Long drone of ebony in three parts: the redd-joint is folded twice, trumpet-wise; the middle joint almost completely enclosed in the brass tube, and the bell-joint of brass ending with a circular box of ivory with a vent-hole. Both drones are furnished with single beating reeds. Chanter of ebony, ivory tips; seven finger-holes in the front, one thumb-hole in the rear; seven square brass keys mounted on knobs. First treble regulator of ebony with ivory tip and closed end-cap into which is inserted the 'tunber,' a brass wire with an ivory ball; to this wire is fastened, inside the tube, a long piece of rush with the pulpy part uncovered; four brass keys (square) mounted on knobs. The lowest key has a long touch piece. Second treble regulator constructed similarly to the first one; five brass keys. Differential regulator of complicated construction; it is attached to the stock in two places and connected by passages with the air supply at both ends. The reed is fastened to a long separator, which is inserted in the tube in such a way as to divide the air column into two parts (see fig. 19, B). The differential regulator (fig. 19, A) is essentially a U-shaped tube consisting of the following parts: a brass tube attached to the stock by a tapered slide-plate joint and containing a separator, in which is inserted a reed covered by a long brass tube cap with a large molded ivory stopper; the body is of ebony with four brass keys; a U-shaped crook with three brass keys; a long tube with conoidal bore tapering toward the upper end. A small brass crook ('B') connects this rube to a cylindrical brass receptacle ('A') attached to the stock by a tapered slide-plate joint.
InscriptionsStamped on main stock: M EGAN
ProvenanceFrancis W. Galpin (1858-1945), Hatfield Regis, England; 1916, sold by Francis W. Galpin to William Lindsey (1858-1922), Boston, Massachusetts; 1916, gift of William Lindsey, in memory of his daughter, Leslie Lindsey Mason, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 5, 1916)