Advanced Search 
Quintuple duct whistle
Native American
19th century
Object Place: United States or Canada, Northwest Coast region
Medium/Technique
Red cedar, sinew
Dimensions
Length 38.8 cm, width 12 cm, thickness 6 cm (Length 15 1/4 in., width 4 3/4 in., thickness 2 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.2208
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Aerophones
DescriptionFlattened bottle-shaped body (of roughly U-shaped cross-section) constructed of two hollowed out halves of red cedar (?), bound together with twisted sinew near each end and with cedar bark strips above and below largest windows. Distal end closed. Seams smeared with pitch. Two crescent-shaped windows and three rectangular-shaped. Five embouchure holes of various shapes. Sounds pitches of d', d', d'', d'', and f''-sharp.
ProvenanceBy 1903, Francis W. Galpin (b. 1858 - d. 1945), Hatfield Regis, England [see note]; 1916, sold by Francis W. Galpin to William Lindsey (b. 1858 - d. 1922), Boston; 1916, gift of William Lindsey to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 5, 1916)
NOTE: F. W. Galpin, "The Whistles and Reed Instruments of the American Indians of the North-West Coast," Proceedings of the Musical Association, 29th sess. (1902-1903): pl. I, fig. 5.
NOTE: F. W. Galpin, "The Whistles and Reed Instruments of the American Indians of the North-West Coast," Proceedings of the Musical Association, 29th sess. (1902-1903): pl. I, fig. 5.