Courtois B-Flat/A Cornet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This cornet was made by the Antoine Courtois & Mille in Paris, France around 1880 to 1895. It is B-flat/A cornet, Arbuckle model, made of silver plated brass with 3 piston valves with mother-of-pearl finger buttons and tuning shanks and crooks.

This cornet model is named after Scottish immigrant, Matthew Arbuckle (1828-1883), a prominent cornet player of the era. His cornet instruction book containing instructions, exercises, lessons, and arrangements, Arbuckle’s Complete Cornet Method was published in 1866 and is still used today.

This cornet bears inscriptions of Courtois and J. Howard Foote. J. Howard Foote, musical instrument dealer in New York and Chicago, was the sole Courtois importer in the United States in the 1880s and 1890s.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1880-1895
• maker: Antoine Courtois & Mille
• Object Name: cornet
• Physical Description: brass (overall material)
• Physical Description: silver (overall material)
• Measurements: cornet: 12 3/8 in x 5 1/16 in x 7 5/8 in; 31.4325 cm x 12.85875 cm x 19.3675 cm
• Measurements: mute: 4 3/8 in x 2 1/2 in; 11.1125 cm x 6.35 cm
• Measurements: mouthpiece: 2 5/16 in x 1 1/16 in; 5.87375 cm x 2.69875 cm
• Measurements: receiver: 7 in x 1 1/8 in x 1/2 in; 17.78 cm x 2.8575 cm x 1.27 cm
• Measurements: overall: 12 1/2 in x 5 in x 6 1/2 in; 31.75 cm x 12.7 cm x 16.51 cm
• place made: France: Île-de-France, Paris
• ID Number: 1993.0345.01
• catalog number: 1993.0345.01
• accession number: 1993.0345
• Credit Line: Gift of Harry B. Steven
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.