the Pipe and Tabor compendium

the Pipe and Tabor compendium

essays on the three-hole pipe
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World: associated pipes
one-handed pipe, no percussion

Most of the images featuring a pipe played by one hand depict fantasy or mythological stories.
Also it is not always obvious which type of pipe is being played.

Native American:
The bone flute was used to discourage evil spirits in ceremonial use. 
A four-hole Eagle bone flute (instead of the typical five-hole flute)
with its high pitch and functionality with one hand, was used for medicinal
healing, “This allowed the healer to have one hand free for passing it over
the body of the person being healed,” (source)

Greek/Roman lead figureGreek/Roman lead figure
2nd - 8th century Jordan2nd to 8th century Jordan
618 – 907 AD
 618 – 907 AD
618 – 907 AD Shaanxi China, on horseback ; China, a different view
before 1000before 1000 wall painting, Island of Reichenau
on Lake Constance, Germany 		   
11th century Catalonia, Spain11th century siren, Catalonia, Spain
11701170's horn or pipe? Germany
11741174 Germany
12th / 13th century
 12th / 13th century
12th / 13th century three-hole pipes, Ourense Cathedral, Galicia, Spain
1220-12401220-1240 Italy (Sicily) 21v 1235-12571235-1257 misericord, France France, stone carvingFrance, stone carving  
13th century13th century Arezzo, Italy
13th century13th century Sicily, Italy
end 13th centuryend 13th century,
Teruel Cathedral, Spain
13001300 Ghent, Belgium 1300-13251300-1325 France 127r 1304-13401304-1340 Switzerland 84r
13401340 France
13841384 shepherd England
14th century14th century France
14th/15th century14th/15th century Pamplona, Spain
 
14111411 manuscript France
1410 Mercury1410-1414 Paris, France, Mercury playing double pipes
14181418 Paris, France
14th - 16th century Cyprus14th - 16th century Cyprus
 1410-201410-20 player and Mercury 15th century15th century Germany?
©2016-2024 Leiden University
14301430 shepherd, Lyons, France copyright
 shepherd France1418-1425 shepherd
France f.85v		 14401440 shepherd for dancing, Belgium, perhaps Bruges
1415 Belgium1415-1449 shepherd Flanders
Belgium		 c 1430c 1430 fool, Hague, Belgium 1450-601450-60 shepherd for dancing, Bruges, Belgium
c1450c. 1450 Flemish tapestry
in la Seo cathedral in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
  
15th centurylate 15th century Bruges, Belgium page xi
14th / 15th century14th / 15th century roof boss
Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk, England
 SpainSpain date unknown
1450-1475
 1450-1475close-up of pipes
15th century15th century
Warwickshire England

1450-1475 shepherd, Netherlands;

15th century
 15th century close-up of pipeclose-up of pipe
15th century Mercury, Cognac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France;
mid 15th century
 mid 15rh century Tarot card MercuryTarot card, Mercury
mid 15th century Mercury, England 42r
before 1480before 1480 Mercury, Bruges, Belgium
15th century15th century England, Mercury 98v
1450-14751450-1475 Mercury, Auvergne, France
1450-14751450-1475 Mercury, France
fol. 027r
© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
14691469 shepherd, France
15th century15th century Genoa, Italy
 1450-14751450-1475 Troyes, France
14701470 England 'The Fool'
late 15th centurylate 15th century Paris, France page 175
15th century Denmark1454 to 1513 Denmark
 15th century15th century misericord, Holy Trinity Church
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
1450-601450-60 Poitiers, France
  
14651465 Italy not a tarot card 'poetry' tarot card1470-80 Tarot card 'Poetry 14711471 jester's hood down, Germany
14711471 Germany fol. 83v
Germany1480 house book from Wolfegg Castle, Germany, 14r
'Children of the sun'
 
14801480 Tournai or Lille, Belgium or France
late 15th century1483 Wrocław City Hall, Poland
 
1450-14751450-1475 Pan
France fol. 025r
© Bodleian Libraries,
University of Oxford
14841484 Pan
Flemish, Bruges;
also here
1490-15001490-1500 Pan, France
15th century15th century astrological treatise, France
[recorder or pipe?]
between 1492 and 1495
 pipebetween 1492 and 1495 France photo 16 ;
close-up of pipe - 3-hole or recorder?
14921492 France 20v
14921492 France 57v
14921492 France 372r
14921492 France 378r
1494 1494 fresco, Vatican, Italy
14971497 manuscript, Flanders
Belgium
  
14981498 angel, Naples, Italy
14981498 Venice, Italy
 1490-15001490-1500 Mercury, France 15021502 Mercury, Germany
16th century16th century angel, Xàtiva
antic hospital, Spain
15091509 alterpiece, Flemish, Belgium
1510-15271510-1527 engraving, Italy
 15h - 16th century1510-1527 northern Italy
15031503 book decoration, Rouen, France f248v
  
15111511 female player, Tours, France
15111511 female player in a prayer book, France
15171517 Germany
15191519 tapestry Brussels, Belgium
15251525 Germany, painting
15351535 Germany
1540 1540

 

 
1540 Tournament book - copy of the original by Hans Burgkmair the Elder, Ausburg, Germany [Plate 70]
15591559 printed book of statutes,
England [page 81]
c.1570c.1570 painting, Flemish pipe player1570 fool playing a pipe
from Feast of Fools		 16th century16th century mythological
Nuremberg, Germany

1570-16081570-1608 Holland [JSadeler Verlag AB 3.1]

 15701570 mythological painting Netherlands / England
15901590 tapestry, Antwerp
Belgium [page 28] 		     
16001600 Belgium 16031603 Augsburg, Germany
16101610 Spain
16141614 classsical procession Netherlands
MadridRoyal Palace of Madrid, Spain 1600-1625 Italy1600-1625 Italy, putti on cloud 1630's1630's marble, playing for dancing boys
Flemish, Belgium
16381638 Italy painting (detail)
16381638 Mercury, Antwerp, Belgium (Flemish)
1640's1640's Mercury, Antwerp, Belgium
16501650 Antwerp, Belgium 1650-751650-75 embroidery, England
no dateunknown date, wood carving
Basque country, Spain
17th century17th century anon 1660-16901660-1690 Netherlands
17th century17th century France
representing 1454 French court dancing
1700-1725
1700-1725
1700-1725 embroidered picture with Maypole scene, UK; close-up

17351735 ceramic plate, Italy

 1750's 1750's France, The Wallace Collection
1750-17951750-1795 Venice, Italy [ DBZilotti AB 3.11]
 date unknowndate unknown Netherlands [man playing to a dead ass]
17381738 allegory, Netherlands
1750-18001750-1800 snuff box side, Germany
Meissen 27231743 Meissen 2723 MeissenShepherdess MeissenShepherdess MeissenShepherdess
Meissen copy 19th century19th century Meissen copy Meissen19th century copy Meissencopy    
17441744 rag collector, Germany
[AB 3.17]
putti1753 Helmstädt, Germany
book frontispiece
17671767 pattern book, France
17701770 France
17751775 Germany 17801780 France
17891789 Austria
17911791 London, England
1815-1820 1815-1820 1815-1820

1815-1820 cartoon for cotton printing: "Les Quatre Saisons" (detail,) France

early 19th centuryearly 19th century, plate, Russia 19th century19th century painting France early 19th centuryearly 19th century France Goose from The Delightful Game of the Goose
18191819 allegorical print, France
early 19th centuryearly 19th century satire
19th century19th century figurine
18201820 inkstand, Paris, France
19th century19th century painting, Italy
1841 England: Concert of the Alpine Singers at the Assembly Rooms:1841Norwich Mercury - Saturday 22 May 1841
1840's - 60's1840's-60's music cover, France
19th century19th century Holland
18761876 Russian Federation 18841884 painting, England
late 19th centurylate 19th century, bronze, France
18881888 Belgium ‘Fantastic Musicians’
18971897 siren in Thomas Bulfinch
 ‘The Age of Fable’ Philadelphia, USA
page 303
18981898 Cyprus
1900 France1900 'dancing faun' Luxemburg Gardens
Paris, France
19001900 child with pipe and hobby-horse
by Hans Boesch, Germany
19001900 fabric, Jouy-en-Josas, Paris, France
19301930 faun sitting on goat, England
19371937 book illustration, France
Indiasource India (double pipe)
Apache|North America, Apache player
20th century20th century statuette by George Carlson USA
buttonbutton, USA, date unknown
20th century USA20th century bronze sculpture. fountain top, USA
unknownmodern interior design; Chinoiserie
20232023 Basque Country, part of a band
   

Greek god Bel

a series of images illustrating a statue of the god Bel in a Greek apocryphal addition to the book of Daniel, reprinted
in various European editions of 'Speculum Humanae Salvationis'. Food (on animal bone) and drink of the earlier editions
become bread held in one hand and a pipe with finger-holes in the other.

14th century14th century stained glass
Church of St Etienne Mulhouse, France  		 14501450 France 17v
unknown dateunknown 		15th century15th century Germany
14551455 Bruges, Belgium
Images of Bel in all the editions
of 'Speculum Humanae Salvationis' are
here in 'modified images over the centuries.'
   
Dance of Death
Ausburger15th century Augsburger, Bavaria, Germany player[unknown]
EmperorThe Emperor
Wellcome Library, London 		 1617 young man1617 The Young man 17th century17th century Berne, Switzerland
(search dance)
Salzbergen, Germany Tyrol Austria1830 Martinskapelle (chapel of Saint Martin), Elbigenalp, Tyrol, Austria
1825 young man1825-1851 The Young Man
18521852 copies of one-handed pipes, page 371, in:

‘The dances of the dead, dissertations and historical, philosophical, literary and musical research on the various monuments of this genre which
exist or which have existed both in France and abroad… and a series of plates representing subjects taken from ancient dances of the dead from
the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, most of them published in France for the first time, with the figures of musical instruments they contain ,
as well as other figures of instruments from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,’ by Georges Kastner [Texto impreso]
 
unknown
unknownunknown vase vasevase, Europe
 

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©an on-going project with lots more to add Last modified 14 June, 2026