Zampogna Bagpipe: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bagpipe was made by an unknown maker in Italy, in the early 20th century. It is a Zampogna bagpipe, mouth blown, with a tied animal skin bag. There are cherry pipes and stocks, and 2 chanters and 2 drones. The small drone and large chanter bells are painted orange and green respectively. The large chanter is conical with 3 fingerholes, 1 key and 4 vent holes. The key is covered. The small chanter is also conical with a thumbhole, 4 vent holes and 4 fingerholes, with the lowest duplicated for either hand. The double reed are extant pipes, except the small drone which has been plugged with wax.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: early 20th century
• Object Name: bagpipe
• Physical Description: cherry (overall material)
• Physical Description: animal skin (overall material)
• place made: Italy
• ID Number: MI.66.092
• catalog number: 66.092
• accession number: 254480
• 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.