Pochette
about 1680 (Made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A small, boat-shaped violin, known by the French term pochette, was suitable for carrying around in a coat pocket. They were played by dancing masters before demonstrating a particular step to their pupils. However, this example is made from expensive decorative materials, and it may have been intended as a collector's curiosity rather than as a working instrument.
On loan to the Horniman Museum.
On loan to the Horniman Museum.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Fruitwood and bone back; planed pine soundboard, inlaid fruitwood and staghorn fingerboard and tailpiece. |
| Brief description | Pochette (prev called a kit), ivory and tortoiseshell, German, about 1680. |
| Physical description | 'Narrow model, with body of a fruitwood coupled with ivory in fancy alternation, shaped to five faces. Belly with nearly straight outwards-facing C-holes and a small hart-shaped hole near the fingerboard. Tailpiece and fingerboard of the same wood as the body, with feather banding in ivory which is in fact stag's horn. The finial is in the form of a sheep's head. Four small boxwood pegs.' Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1978), p. 22. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Object history | This instrument formed part of the collections of T.W.Taphouse sold at Sotheby's on 7th June 1905 (lot 33.) and was bought by the Museum for £5-15- 6 (£5.78) Terminology note, 2024: The current terminology for “boat-shaped” instruments such as this is 'pochette' rather than the English term 'kit' which is now generally applied only to violin-shaped instruments. |
| Summary | A small, boat-shaped violin, known by the French term pochette, was suitable for carrying around in a coat pocket. They were played by dancing masters before demonstrating a particular step to their pupils. However, this example is made from expensive decorative materials, and it may have been intended as a collector's curiosity rather than as a working instrument. On loan to the Horniman Museum. |
| Bibliographic reference | Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p.22 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 498-1905 |
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| Record created | May 16, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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