trumpet BM-2016-3040.2

Period:Unknown Production date:19th Century (PROBABLY)
Materials:copper alloy, human bone, turquoise, coral,
Technique:

Dimensions:Height: 7.50 centimetres Length: 35 centimetres Depth: 6.50 centimetres

Description:
Tibetan trumpet (kangling) (made of human thigh bone). Human bone, silver/ white metal alloy, copper alloy, turquoise and coral.
IMG
图片[1]-trumpet BM-2016-3040.2-China Archive

Comments:Ramos, 2016:This Tibetan trumpet, or kangling, made of human thigh bone, is decorated with silver and white repousse metal alloy, with turquoise and coral stones. It would have been used during the Tibetan ritual of Chöd, or ‘Cutting Through the Ego’, during which practitioners use a double-sided drum and a trumpet made of human bone like this to cut through attachment to the physical body. The piercing wail of the kangling is used to summon spirits to feast on one’s visualised dismembered corpse. This kangling is particularly unusual because of its elaborate repousse decoration (usually they are much plainer). We see a snow lion’s face in relief, a celestial emblem of Tibet that is considered the protector of the Buddha. This kangling was originally in the collection of Harry Beasley. Beasley was a British anthropologist and museum curator who developed an important ethnographic collection during the early 20th century that is now held in various British museums. He was a wealthy brewery owner and went on to establish the Cranmore Ethnographic Museum in Kent. Beasley collected artefacts worldwide – including Africa, North-west America, the Pacific and Asia. There are over 3,000 registered objects at the British Museum from Beasley’s collection, and almost 400 of these are from the Asia collections.
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