Drum Collection in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts

Last week I attended the opening reception for the new Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona (more on that later). There I met another guest, Darcy Kuronen, Curator of Musical Instruments at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts ("MFA"). Among other things, we discussed MFA's 1834 H. Prentiss drum (photo below).

Today I searched MFA's website and found the below images of interest to this blog's readers.

Ellis Mirsky
Blogmaster@FieldDrums.com

Side drum about 1800, Belgium

Height 44 cm, diameter 45.5 cm (Height 17 5/16 in., diameter 17 15/16 in.) Brass
Classification: Musical instruments

Object is currently not on view

Brass barrel, two skin heads held by wooden loops laced with cord braces and tightened with leather tags. Two snares below.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection, 1917
Accession number: 17.2020

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Bass drum and two mallets about 1810, England

Height 73.5 cm, diameter 65 cm (Height 28 15/16 in., diameter 25 9/16 in.) Wood

Classification: Musical instruments

Object is currently not on view

Wooden barrel, overlapped and riveted with three rows of flat- headed brass rivets. Painted white scroll, decorations, no inscriptions. Two painted wooden hoops held with cord braces and tightened with leather tags. One hoop braces with sheet iron patches (riveted on). Two drumsticks.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection, 1917
Accession number: 17.2021a-c

Provenance/Ownership History: Ex. coll. Francis W. Galpin Ex. coll. Francis W. Galpin Ex. coll. Francis W. Galpin

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):
•Percussion Musical Instruments

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Bass drum about 1815, England

Height 80 cm, diameter 72 cm (Height 31 1/2 in., diameter 28 3/8 in.), Wood

Inscriptions: Painted on shell (on large red square): DARTMOUTH INDEPENDENT HARMONY BAND / (on a small scroll: Unity is strength)

Classification: Musical instruments

Object is currently not on view

Wooden barrel built up with two shells of equal height. Two wooden hoops, braced and tightened with cord and tags. Below inscription are white and blue ensigns with the flagstaffs crossed.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection, 1917
Accession number: 17.2022

Provenance/Ownership History: Ex. coll. Francis W. Galpin

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):
•Percussion Musical Instruments

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The Drummer Boy about 1862
William Morris Hunt, American, 1824–1879

91.76 x 66.36 cm (36 1/8 x 26 1/8 in.)
Oil on canvas

Inscriptions: Lower right: WMHunt [WMH in monogram]

Classification: Paintings

Object is currently out on long-term loan

Following the election of anti-slavery president Abraham Lincoln, the southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. When the war began, both sides believed it could be quickly won, and patriotic feeling surged. This image, painted early in the war, shows a barefooted boy beating the drum for volunteer soldiers.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gift of Mrs. Samuel H. Wolcott, 1966
Accession number: 66.1055

Provenance/Ownership History: The artist; to J.H. Wolcott, Boston, after 1862; Samuel H. Wolcott, his grandson, Boston, 1891; to Mrs. Samuel H. Wolcott, 1935; to MFA, 1966, gift of Mrs. Samuel H. Wolcott.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):

•American Paintings
•MFA Images: American History

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Drummer Boy 1862–65
William Morris Hunt, American, 1824–1879

Sheet: 101.9 x 68.6 cm (40 1/8 x 27 in.)
Framed: 123.2 x 88.3 x 4.8 cm (48 1/2 x 34 3/4 x 1 7/8 in.)
Charcoal heightened with white chalk on gray-green paper

Inscriptions: L. r.: MH

Classification: Drawings

Object is currently not on view

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Ellen Kelleran Gardner Fund, 1967
Accession number: 67.789

Provenance/Ownership History: Vose Galleries, Boston, MA; purchased by MFA, September 13, 1967.

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Bass drum and mallet 1813–19
Frederick Lane, American, 1791–1865

Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Height 60 cm, diameter 62 cm (Height 23 5/8 in., diameter 24 7/16 in.), Ash

Classification: Musical instruments

On view in the: Musical Instruments Gallery

Ash (?) shell with painted decoration consisting of an American eagle with "E Pluribus Unum" on a fluttering banner over a shield. Skin heads held on by red-painted wood hoops laced with rope and leather tensioners. Includes old wooden mallet.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gift of the Family of Charles E. Black and Gale L. Perron, including Karen A. Black, Diane L. (Black) Conners, Emmie Perron Black and Katrina Perron-Black, 1986
Accession number: 1986.937a-b

Provenance/Ownership History: Donated by Charles E. Black of Hingham, Massachusetts. Black apparently inherited the instrument from his father, Clarence Edgar Black, originally from Waldoboro, Maine. It was supposedly handed down through several generations of the family, and is believed to have been used in the War of 1812 by Joseph Jewett (1780-1852) of Alna, Maine.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):
•Percussion Musical Instruments

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Side drum probably 1834

Distributed by: Henry H. Prentiss, American, 1801–1860

[Blogmaster's Comment: I believe that the artwork is by Charles Hubbard based on other emblazonments on Prentiss drums of that era. See, e.g.
1. "More on the First Corps of Cadets and the 1834 Drum by H. Prentiss (Boston), Painting by Charles Hubbard,", this blog, Dec. 13, 2009;
2. "John Robbins' Bunker Hill Drum at Old State House, Boston ", this blog, March 20, 2009; and
3. "William H. Guthman's Incredible Drum Collection", Jan. 7, 2009.]

Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Height 35.5 cm, diameter 42 cm (Height 14 in., diameter 16 9/16 in.), Maple

Inscriptions: Extensive printed label (see photo):

Classification: Musical instruments

On view in the: Musical Instruments Gallery

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gift of the Reed Family, 1993
Accession number: 1993.900

Provenance/Ownership History: Donated by Donald W. Reed of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Reed inherited the instrument from William A. Reed of North Abington, Massachusetts.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):
•Percussion Musical Instruments

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Henry Prentiss about 1830

[Blogmaster's Comment: Possibly the same H. Prentiss to whom the above drum is attributed?]

Attributed to: William Lewis, American, 1788–after 1838

6.98 x 5.46 cm (2 3/4 x 2 1/8 in.)
Watercolor on Ivory

Classification: Miniatures

Object is currently not on view

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gift of Nellie Isabel Simpson, 1931
Accession number: 31.640

Provenance/Ownership History: The artist; Nellie Isabel Simpson; to MFA, 1931, gift of Nellie Isabel Simpson.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):
•American Miniatures