Sea Dragon

Unknown Artist

17th century

Sea Dragon by Unknown Artist

Medium

Wood, brass, gilding

Dimensions

Height: 54 1/2 in. (138.4 cm) Width: 8 in. (20.3 cm) Depth: 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)

Classification

Aerophone-Reed Vibrated-double reed

Culture

Italian

Department

Musical Instruments

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889

Accession Number

89.4.881a–c

Tags

Dragons

Art Historical Context

Behold the *Sea Dragon*, a whimsical 17th-century Italian musical instrument from the Metropolitan Museum Art's Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, acquired in 1889. Crafted from wood, brass, and intricate gilding, thisophone—classified as a double-reed instrument—stands an impressive 54½ inches tall, slender at 8 inches wide and3½ inches deep. fantastical form, evoking a serpentine sea dragon with coiled body and fierce jaws, transforms a functional object into a work of Baroque artistry, blending sculpture and sound. In Renaissance and Baroque Italy, makers often adorned woodwin...

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