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Trumpet (takht or zil 'high' karnai)
The karna originated in Persia and its use spread across Central and Southern Asia as a result of the growth of Islam in the region. It survived as a military instrument in Persia until the early 20th century, but is now only found in Tajik and Uzbek cultures in Central Asia. These examples are from Uzbekistan where they are known as karnai and are particularly associated with wedding celebrations.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
