Indian Duggi or Bass Drum

No drumhead in sight. The copper does not seem to mind.

This duggi or bass drum comes from India, its body made of copper. Metal kettle shells like this one were covered with a stretched skin and played for their deep voice, giving the low end to Indian music and processions. The photograph shows the open shell alone. Hammered marks dimple the whole surface, and a mottled green and brown patina gathers from rim to the point at the base, with a seam running around the middle. Seventeen inches high and twenty across.

Silence has rarely been this large.