Scottish small pipe

This mouthblown Scottish small pipe was acquired in the late nineteenth century by Mary Elizabeth Brown. It features a small conical chanter made of black wood (194mm), three drones (bass, tenor, treble) in a common stock, and a long horn mouthpiece. The instrument has no maker’s mark.

Scottish small pipes were interchangeably fitted with bellows or with an insufflation pipe. The oldest Scottish small pipes date from the early-mid eighteenth century. One of the most famous examples is a set of mouthblown small pipes with mounts inscribed to Colonel Montgomery, 1757 (National Museums Scotland #M.1965.266). Comparison with other sets in existing collections supports the theory that this could be a late eighteenth century, or early nineteenth century set. The cover of the leather bag is not original and was added at some point in the early twentieth century (Kajitani 1997).

(Cassandre Balosso-Bardin, 2023)

Technical Description
Conical single chanter of black wood 170 mm (6¾ in.); 7/1 holes; reed missing (typically narrow cane double reed on metal staple);

3 drones each in 2 sections with tuning slides and cylindrical bores: bass 307 mm (12-1/8 in.), tenor 207 mm (8-1/8 in.), treble 154 mm (6-1/8 in.);

Bass reed single downcut cane reed with tuning bridle, other reeds missing;

Long Highland-type blowpipe of brown wood 290 mm (11½ in.);

Horn mouthpiece; leather flapper valve;

Leather bag covered with brown corduroy trimmed with green fringe;

2 long cylindrical brown wood stocks for chanter and blowpipe;

1 barrel-shaped brown wood stock for 3 drones;

Decorative turnings, ivory, horn and wood mounts.

Chanter 170mm (6 3/4in);

Drones: bass-307mm (12 1/8in), tenor 207mm (8 1/8in) treble 154mm (6 1/8in);

Insufflation pipe: 290mm (11 1/2in)


References

Kajitani, Nobuko, 1997. Observations from the textile conservator Nobuko Kajitani, August 1997, Instrument file #89.4.1294. Musical Instrument Department Archive, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.