Serpent, wooden body covered in black leather. Keyless. Brass ferrule deeply turned with three grooves at crook socket. Ivory mouthpiece contemporary and possibly original. Right-angled brass crook. No mount at bell.
Serpents use finger holes and keys - devices more often associated with woodwind instruments than with the brass family - to change the pitch of the instrument. The serpent was an indispensable bass wind instrument in church orchestras and military bands until it was replaced by the ophicleide in the second half of the 19th century.
