Guitar
1810-1830 (Made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Nicholas Morlot (fl.1820-1840) made violins and guitars in Mirecourt, a highly important centre for making musical instruments in Eastern France. His father, Didier (1757-1833) and brother Joseph (d.1864) were also famous violin-makers from Mirecourt. This instrument is undated but probably made between about 1810 and 1830. Instead of being fitted with mechanically screwed machine-heads, the example has six simple pegs, inserted from the back, and its body is made of sycamore, a native European wood, rather than Brazilian rosewood, which was more widely used after about 1830.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Planed and joined sycamore back and sides: planed, joined and inlaid spruce soundboard, purfled (bordered) with inlaid mother-of-pearl and ebony feather pattern; planed ebony fingerboard with metal frets. |
| Brief description | Sycamore and pine, Nicholas Morlot, France (Mirecourt), 1810-30. |
| Physical description | 'Back of a single piece of sycamore. Belly of two pieces of spruce, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ebony feather decoration, both as purfling and surrounding soundhole. Spanish bridge for six strings. Plain neck block. Ebony fingerboard with seventeen metal frets and figure-of-eight head with six pegs inserted from the rear.' Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), pp. 60-61. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | This instrument was given to the Museum by Miss G.E.Johnston in 1916. In a letter dated 5th February 1916, she stated, "I do not wish my name to appear if the guitar is exhibited". |
| Summary | Nicholas Morlot (fl.1820-1840) made violins and guitars in Mirecourt, a highly important centre for making musical instruments in Eastern France. His father, Didier (1757-1833) and brother Joseph (d.1864) were also famous violin-makers from Mirecourt. This instrument is undated but probably made between about 1810 and 1830. Instead of being fitted with mechanically screwed machine-heads, the example has six simple pegs, inserted from the back, and its body is made of sycamore, a native European wood, rather than Brazilian rosewood, which was more widely used after about 1830. |
| Bibliographic reference | Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), pp. 60-61. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.25-1916 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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