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Set of end-blown flutes without duct (421.112.1). Sonorous instrument made of fifteen cylindrical cane pipes, each one of a different lenght and diameter, inserted into a gourd, all covered with black lacquer. The pipes are closed at their upper end by a kind of cap with a sharp edge.
In the gourd’s bottom, a thin bone plate with a hole serves to attach it to the central feathers of a dove’s tail. During the dove’s flight the air strikes the pipes’sharp edge and produces sounds intended for keeping birds of prey away.
The ko ling was used mainly in Pekin, where more than forty varieties of this instrument were known. Nowadays it is not used anymore.
L. 6.5 x w. 6 x h. 6 cm.
Gift, Dr. Emilio Azzarini’s Collection, 1964. Bought in