The Bagpipe Society

An Original Source

This is a hand- coloured mezzotint of “The Musical Club” published in 1772. I have flipped the image to better enable comparison with the next image which is possibly the original painting from which the engraving was made.

The painting has a very clear depiction of the chanter and drones. The drones appear to be slightly more splayed than the engraving but the chanter looks very similar with the extra detail of metal or horn work on the bell of the chanter and the chanter top. Could be an offset right hand little finger hole plus some vent holes on the bell of the chanter. Overall, the composition is very similar with only the heads of the characters changed. This image is from an auction house archive so the original could be larger. Great image though!

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