Panpipe
1 of 2
Object Label
Hundreds of panpipes similar to this one have been found in Nasca burial sites along pilgrimage routes, suggesting that the instruments served an important ceremonial function in ancient times. Scholars believe that panpipes were played by pilgrims during processions to the giant geoglyphs (designs scratched on the ground) in the Nasca desert and at ritual feasts that took place at the nearby site of Cahuachi. These ceremonies were held to ensure water for the agricultural season.
Cientos de zampoñas parecidas a ésta han sido encontradas en enterratorios Nasca a lo largo de rutas de peregrinaje, sugiriendo que este instrumento servía una función ceremonial importante en tiempos antiguos. Académicos creen que las zampoñas eran tocadas por peregrinos durante procesiones a los geoglifos gigantes (diseños marcados en la tierra) en el desierto de Nasca y en festines rituales que se realizaban en el sitio cercano de Cahuachi. Estas ceremonias se realizaban para asegurar el agua para la estación agrícola.
Caption
Nasca. Panpipe. Pottery, pigment, 8 1/8 x 3 3/4 x 1/2 in. (20.6 x 8.3 x 1.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund, 41.433. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.433_bw.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Panpipe
Period
Pre-Spanish
Medium
Pottery, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
8 1/8 x 3 3/4 x 1/2 in. (20.6 x 8.3 x 1.3 cm)
Credit Line
Henry L. Batterman Fund
Accession Number
41.433
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
To create the sounds that each instrument makes, were the actual instruments on display used or were replicas made?
The sounds were sourced from soundtracks of similar types of instruments being played such as Dale Olsen’s Music of El Dorado and Peyote songs from the Smithsonian’s Folkways Records.Is this a flute of some kind?
In a way, yes. That is a panpipe of Nasca origin. Unsurprisingly, it was played by blowing through the holes into different length tubes, which created different tones.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at