French Bagpipe: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bagpipe was made by an unknown maker in France, 18th century. It is a mouth blown bagpipe, with skin bag with maroon cover. The stained boxwood pipes and stocks are ornamented with pewter fretwork. The conical chanter has a thumbhole, 7 fingerholes (the lowest repeated for either hand), and 2 vent holes. There is a double stock for chanter and bass drone. The small drone has separate stock and is carried over the shoulder.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 18th century
• Object Name: bagpipe
• Physical Description: boxwood (overall material)
• Physical Description: pewter (overall material)
• Physical Description: animal skin (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Measurements: bag: 19 in x 6 in; 48.26 cm x 15.24 cm
• Measurements: chanter: 22 1/4 in x 1 7/8 in; 56.515 cm x 4.7625 cm
• Measurements: long drone: 44 in x 2 1/2 in; 111.76 cm x 6.35 cm
• Measurements: small drone: 18 in x 1 1/2 in; 45.72 cm x 3.81 cm
• place made: France
• ID Number: MI.204152
• accession number: 35877
• catalog number: 204152
• 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.