Advanced Search
Advanced Search
View: 3/4 left profile

Metallophone (slenthem)

1840
Object Place: Central Java, Indonesia

Medium/Technique Teak, bronze
Dimensions Overall: 46 x 73.5 x 35.5 cm (18 1/8 x 28 15/16 x 14 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 Number1990.540
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical instrumentsIdiophones

DescriptionCarved red painted wood frame containing seven bamboo resonators and six pairs of metal posts (two posts missing) set in the upper rails. The resonators are hidden by panels on each side of the frame. Seven 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 turned wood dowels at each end of the frame. 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)