Phoenix Mouth Organ (Ho Sho)
maker
Unknown
Datebefore 1850
Place MadeJapan, East Asia
MediumLacquered bamboo and wood, with gold decoration, silver
Dimensions39.1 x 5.1 cm (15 3/8 x 2 in.)
ClassificationsMusical Instruments
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberU1n2
eMuseum ID723898
EmbARK ObjectID11005
TMS Source ID261
Last Updated10/2/24
Status
Not on viewWeb Commentary
The sho is a mouth organ. Like a bagpipe, it produces sound through a chamber that a player keeps filled with air by blowing into a mouthpiece. It is a Japanese adaptation of the Chinese sheng, brought to Japan’s imperial court during the Nara period (710 - 794 AD). Seventeen lacquered bamboo pipes extend from the wind box, to which a silver mouthpiece is also attached. The maker of this instrument chose to decorate the wind box with a phoenix, likely because the pipes were thought to resemble the wings of the mythic bird. Isabella was fond of the phoenix, an emblem of immortality, and one even decorates the crest of the museum designed by artist Sarah Wyman Whitman.
Gardner displayed this mouth organ along with other musical souvenirs in the Franz Liszt Case in the Yellow Room.
BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 17.
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 94-95, no. 42, ill.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 415 fig. 14, 418 n. 8, 9.
Holly Salmon, "From Tree Sap to Tea Jar: East Asian Lacquer," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 February 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/tree-sap-tea-jar-east-asian-lacquer
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 94-95, no. 42, ill.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 415 fig. 14, 418 n. 8, 9.
Holly Salmon, "From Tree Sap to Tea Jar: East Asian Lacquer," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 February 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/tree-sap-tea-jar-east-asian-lacquer
MarksNotesInscribed in lacquer (on box, outside cover): ho sho [phoenix mouth organ]
Inscribed in lacquer (on box, bottom): Mr. Katsuyama Shigeru
Inscribed in ink (on box, inside cover): Mr. Katsuyama Shigeru
Inscribed in ink (on box, inside cover): Kaei 2, 5th month [June 1849]
Inscribed in lacquer (on box, bottom): Mr. Katsuyama Shigeru
Inscribed in ink (on box, inside cover): Mr. Katsuyama Shigeru
Inscribed in ink (on box, inside cover): Kaei 2, 5th month [June 1849]
ProvenanceNotesPossibly in the collection of the Okubo family at Odawara Castle near Hakone, Japan, after 1686.
Possibly in the collection of a Katsuyama Shigeru, June 1849.
Possibly acquired by inventor and publisher Josiah Byram Millet (1853-1938) in Japan, 1897-1901.
Gift from Josiah Byram Millet to Isabella Stewart Gardner, Boston, 1897-1908.
Possibly in the collection of a Katsuyama Shigeru, June 1849.
Possibly acquired by inventor and publisher Josiah Byram Millet (1853-1938) in Japan, 1897-1901.
Gift from Josiah Byram Millet to Isabella Stewart Gardner, Boston, 1897-1908.
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