Day 251 - Jalisco rattle

 June 21, 2021

Gallery 684 is the last of the five musical instruments galleries and my undoubted favorite for the incredible richness and diversity of its contents. It's basically organized chronologically, from percussion instruments dating from almost four thousand years ago to the electric guitars of today.  Introduced into  this time sequence are exhibits discussing various factors influencing how instruments were developed (e.g., the use of new materials, trade). Instruments are also juxtaposed with artistic representations of them. For instance, a case holding a lute is positioned next to a 1692 painting by Bartholomeus van der Helst of a woman playing a lute, while a hunting horn is shown next to an elaborate Meissen hunting cup that depicts on its base a man in a yellow jacket (the 1740s equivalent of the red jackets hunters today wear?) playing such a horn.  Finally, I'm thrilled - I'm not quite sure why -  to see the instruments owned by several famous musicians: Benny Goodman's clarinet, Jean Ritchie's dulcimer, Segovia's guitar, and, exciting beyond all else, a Stradivarius cello played by Gregor Piatigorsky.

There are so many beautiful and fascinating objects:

• a pair of ivory clappers from 1850-1750 B.C.E. Egypt that are shaped like forearms, with impossibly long, slender fingers
• a Venetian virginal from 1540 
• a beautiful Amati violin made in Cremona in 1559
• six-foot-long brass trumpets from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)  with elaborate floral cloisonne' work adapted from Persian designs
• a cittern (a string instrument I'd never heard of before, played by plucking). made in Hamburg in 1685, with beautiful ebony-and-ivory inlay on its back
• flutes of jade (Chinese, natch), porcelain, ivory, and native American stone
• the oldest known extant piano, a  Cristofori piano built in Florence in 1720,  whose lower keys seem to be made of the same wood as the rest of the piano (at least they are the same color) rather than of ivory.

I finally learn what distinguishes a clavichord, a harpsichord, and a piano. Harpsichords use plectra to pluck the strings; their volume can't be controlled by touch. Clavichords and pianos use hammer mechanisms, so that varying degrees of pressure can control the loudness or softness of the notes, but clavichords can't emit much volume whereas pianos can. I also learn that today's 12-note octave, with ivory and ebony keys, was developed by the 15th century.

Among all these treasures, the one that perhaps most stands out for me is a terracotta rattle, about 12 inches long, from the Jalisco culture of western Mexico, dating to between 100 B.C.E. and 200 C.E.  It shows a woman holding a nursing child in her arms.   I note the texture of her hair, as well as her armband, nose ring and large patterned earplugs,  There is something wonderful to me about this instrument, which would delight a child with its sound while embodying in its imagery maternal love and comfort.