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Metallophone (gender barung)
1840
Object Place: Central Java, Indonesia
Medium/Technique
Teak, bronze
Dimensions
Overall: 44.5 x 98.5 x 34.5 cm (17 1/2 x 38 3/4 x 13 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Mr. and Mrs. Bradford M. Endicott and Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Fraser in honor of Jan and Suzanne Fontein, and the Frank B. Bemis Fund
Accession Number1990.538
ON VIEW
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Idiophones
DescriptionCarved red painted wood frame containing fourteen bamboo resonators and six pairs of metal posts set in the upper rails. Fourteen bronze keys, each with two longitudinal ridges, are suspended – from the posts and over the resonators – by new red cotton cord threaded through each key and through crude wood dowels at each end of the frame. The feet at each end of the frame are replacements carved by Javanese craftsmen in 1990. Bronze handles at each end. (slendro tuning)
Provenance1840, slendro-tuned ensemble commissioned by Chinese patron, Central Java. After 1840, Priyo family, the Bupati (regent) of Blora, Central Java; about 1876, pelog-tuned ensemble commissioned and combined with 1840s ensemble, Central Java; by 1990, by descent through three generations of the Priyo family to Mr. and Mrs. Supriyo, Blora, Central Java, Indonesia; July 12, 1990, sold by Supriyo to Nyonya Nora, Surakarta, Indonesia; 1990, sold by Nyonya Nora to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 24, 1990)