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Side Drum

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Side drum

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Side Drum

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Snare Drum

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Side Drum

Attributed to Ernest Vogt  (American)

Date:
ca. 1864
Geography:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Medium:
Wood, calf skin, rope
Dimensions:
Shell height (head to head with rims): 15-3/8 inches (39.1 cm) Head diameter: between 16-7/8 inches and 17 inches (43.1 cm)
Classification:
Membranophone-double-headed / cylindrical drum
Credit Line:
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number:
89.4.2162

This artwork is not on display

  • Description

    This side drum from the 1860s bears a stenciled eagle design that was typical of the thousands of instruments produced for use by the Union army during the Civil War. The eagle is painted on a blue field, which means it was used in the Infantry, and a banner held in the eagle's beak bears the words REG: U.S. INFANTRY.

    This instrument is a rope-tension drum. Players adjust leather tugs, or "ears," to change the tension on the ropes that zigzag back and forth across the shell around the drum. The tension on the ropes changes the pitch of the skin drumhead.

    To the right of the eagle painting is a tack design. Brass tacks were used to reinforce glued shells, and the tack designs became decorative elements for drum makers and also served as a kind of maker's mark. The tack design on this drum consists of a circle around the vent hole; above and below the circle are arrows pointing toward the rims. These geometric figures are framed by two parallel rows of tacks that are parallel with the shell seam. This design is the same one used by the prolific drum manufacturer Ernest Vogt, in Philadelphia, and allows attribution to his workshop.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Marking: Faint illegible marks on heads.

  • References

    Libin Laurence in Our Tuneful Heritage: American Musical Instruments from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exhibition catalogue., Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah, 1994, pg. 13, 77, fig. 50, ill.

    A Checklist of American Musical Instruments. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pg. 44, ill.

    Libin Laurence. American Musical Instruments in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pg. 59, fig. 38, ill.



  • See also
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    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
180016255

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