Pre-Columbian, Peru (North Coast), Moche Culture, ca. 100 to 500 CE. A magnificent, rare example of a long trumpet, made from three sheets of copper rolled together to form a massive musical instrument, with small copper tabs used to hold the long body and bell together. A long, slowly tapering body broadens at the bell. The body has a joint roughly at its center. Much of the body has an impressed textile remaining on its surface - this item would have been placed into a grave wrapped in cloth, which has become part of its archaeological surface. Size: 3.6" W x 36" H (9.1 cm x 91.4 cm); 25.75" H (65.4 cm) on included custom stand.

There were no stringed instruments in South America prior to European contact, but they did have a multitude of wind and percussion instruments. Moche artwork portrays drums, rattles, panpipes, flutes, and trumpets like this one. Most, however, were made from cane, wood, shell, and ceramic - metal trumpets were reserved for particularly elite uses. They were played in large ceremonies, perhaps relating to warfare, in tandem with other instruments. To hear what they might have founded like, there are some links to recorded tracks here: https://mochemusic.wordpress.com/, an experimental archaeology project to recreate the sounds of the Moche. See a similar example at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. They do not have an online catalogue, but you can see their Moche copper trumpet on their official twitter account here: https://twitter.com/mimphx/status/918538044361371650.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from 1950s to 1960s

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#144462

Slight bending to form, with a few small losses from edges. Deposits on surface, including remains of textiles, mainly on the bell but also in one place on the lower body, as discussed in the description above. Pretty bright green patina on surface.