Yung-Uh-Sho-Na (rattle)
Unknown Artist
19th century
Medium
Turtle shell, buckskin, deer hooves
Dimensions
Overall: 10.2 x 14.6cm (4 x 5 3/4in.)
Classification
Idiophone-Shaken-rattle
Culture
Native American (Hopi)
Department
Musical Instruments
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number
89.4.620
Art Historical Context
Discover the *Yung-Uh-Sho-Na*, a 19th-century rattle crafted by an unknown Hopi artist, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments. This compact idiophone-shaken rattle, measuring just 4 x 5 3/4 inches, embodies the ingenuity of Hopi craftsmanship from the American Southwest. The Hopi, renowned for their rich ceremonial traditions, used such instruments in dances, rituals, and storytelling, where the rhythmic shaking produced a distinctive, resonant sound evoking nature's pulse. Fashioned from a turtle shell—symbolizing longevity and the earth'...