See Masculinity and the British Sound Ideal to learn more about flute maker and virtuoso Louis Drouet (1792–1873).

Richard Shepherd Rockstro, himself a prominent maker in the later nineteenth century, reports that Drouet preferred ivory as a material for the construction of flutes, an observation supported by the specimen displayed here. Rockstro also observes that ivory “gives a particularly hard thin tone, without the powerful resonance so much admired” in England (Rockstro 1967, 143).

For further information, see section titled “On the London Periphery: Clinton, Siccama, Drouet” in Jeremy Sexton’s blog post, Boehm’s Ghost: A Vicarious Portrait of a Flute Maker in London.