Centuries of development

This Ming dynasty pipa represents centuries of development that highlights the instrument’s assimilation into Chinese culture but also its position as a foreign instrument. By this period all pipas had four strings, representing the four seasons, the frets had been moved onto the body of the instrument, and the neck had been lengthened. This pipa would have been played upright with the fingernails of the right hand to allow for a fuller demonstration of the pipa’s range.

The pipa reached the height of its popularity in China during the seventh century under the Tang dynasty, a period that celebrated a trans-Asian cosmopolitanism. Virtuoso players and teachers from the Persian community of Chang’an, the Tang capital, were in great demand. During the seventh century, the Arab conquest of Persia displaced many Persian communities. Under the rule of the Emperor Gaozong of Tang, these refugees were invited to settle in China, bringing with them their culture, their musical instruments, and their expertise. This Persian community, alongside musicians from Gandhara (now part of Afghanistan and Pakistan) and Kucha, a region in the west of China, contributed significantly to the pipa repertoire and musical theory surrounding the instrument. These contributed to a range of Chinese associations in its measurement and tuning, which have been connected with the instrument in China since at least the fifth century.

Let us return to the ivory. More than 110 hexagonal ivory plaques! ...