Sheng, mouth blown free reed instrument. Undecorated pewter bowl with brass rims. Circular arrangement of holes beneath shows wind chamber is restricted to a band around inside of upper rim. Mouthpiece attached to side with circular base and teardrop-shaped end face, into which a pewter crook is inserted. Crook is vertical, tapering inwards towards top, which angles towards player terminating in wide circular rim. Seventeen bamboo pipes arranged in vertical circle around top of wind chamber, each with a tapered lower section. The longest two pipes at front and back and angle inwards to almost touch. Other pipes arranged at sides into two V-shaped dips. A large gap in circle to player's right. Counting clockwise from here, third and fourth pipes silent. The others have free reed set in a metal frame at their lower end (inside chamber) and a circular finger hole on outer surface near bottom. Finger holes of pipes one and seventeen face into gap. Bamboo strip wrapped around the pipes above lowest nodes, which are aligned. Ends of bamboo strip meet at gap, where they form inward-pointing V-shaped join. Paper labels adhered to outer surfaces of each pipe between lowest node and bamboo strip with Chinese inscriptions in black ink. Inside circle, each pipe also has single Chinese character (possibly a number) carved above the lowest node.
