DCM 0945: Johann Benedikt Gahn Treble (Alto) Recorder in F

Highly carved and filled with black ink. Carved with floral design, fruit, leaves, and birds. This recorder is unusual in that the head joint is made of 2 sections, which are joined with machine threads and likewise the foot joint is comprised of 3 sections, the middle and lower 2 of which are also joined with machine threads. However, the foot joint upper section, which contains the little finger tonehole, may have originally contained the female threads joining it to the middle portion in the same way. However, if so, the threading may have been damaged and altered to its present state which is a tenon and socket (tenon on middle section) which is lapped with thread or twine.
Instrument type: Treble (Alto) Recorder in F
Medium: Ivory.; 48.5 cm.
Key Holes System: 1/7 holes.
Mark Maximum: I.B. [GA, unreadable, surmounted by crown? or other design] HN (in scroll) / IBG (decorative monogram)
Mark Additional: According to Seyfrit, v. 1: "The barely readable signature is at the center of an unengraved shield shape, the rest of the instrument is engraved."
Condition: None of the 3 (or 2) machine threaded devices is still workable, the male sections having both shrunk and broken off to some extent. The edge is chipped and damaged, but still somewhat playable. However, the head joint upper section was clearly split into 2 large portions which were rejoined temporarily by Robert Sheldon using the acrylic adhesive B72 (for exhibition purposes). Ivory chips missing at beak. This instrument was included in the Music Division exhibition, "In Praise of Music," in 1992 and was treated cosmetically at that time. The middle portion of the foot joint was curiously missing a slab of ivory not broken away but intentionally removed, creating a flat surface as the result of a saw cut, purpose unknown. A portion of ivory was added by Robert Sheldon using an alophatic adhesive and left slightly oversize to be further finished or worked as desired, or removed.
Provenance: Antique Art Galleries, London, 2 June 1930.

The Dayton C. Miller collection in the Library of Congress, contains nearly 1,700 flutes and other wind instruments, statuary, iconography, books, music, trade catalogs, tutors, patents, and other materials mostly related to the flute. It includes both Western and non-Western examples of flutes from around the world, with at least 460 European and American instrument makers represented. Items in the collection date from the 16th to the 20th century.