Drum
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Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
This waisted drum is one of the earliest examples of a musical instrument from the Eurasian steppes in northeastern China. The decorated end was originally covered with a membrane of thin animal skin that served as a resonator. The three bands of running triangles and raised lines reflect the original stitching that would have affixed the membrane to the drum. Waisted drums of similar form, but sometimes of different materials, have been excavated from tombs at Pazyrk, in Siberia, and in northern China. Waisted drums fell out of favor in China in the Zhou dynasty (circa 1050–256 B.C.E.) but were reintroduced after the first millennium C.E., by foreign orchestras associated with Buddhism on the ancient Silk Roads.
Caption
Drum, 7th century B.C.E.. Bronze, 9 x 5 7/8 in. (22.9 x 14.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 2003.82.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2003.82.1.jpg)
Collection
Collection
Title
Drum
Date
7th century B.C.E.
Geography
Place made: Northeast region, China
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
9 x 5 7/8 in. (22.9 x 14.9 cm)
Credit Line
Anonymous gift
Accession Number
2003.82.1
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.
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