Mandolin
1690 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The 'Milanese' mandolin was tuned like a lute (and similar to a guitar), unlike its more familiar 'Neapolitan' counterpart, which was tuned like a violin. As with earlier versions of the Milanese Mandolin, this instrument has only four courses (one single and the rest double) and its frets would have been made of gut and replaced, once worn. No other instrument by Piero Antonio Gavelli of Perugia is known to have survived, alhough a certain Giaccomo Gavelli, also from Perugia and presumably a descendent, was recorded as producing stringed instruments there during the 1790s.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Ebony, ivory and pine planing, engraved ivory scrollwork, tortoiseshell and ivory marquetry |
| Brief description | Milanese mandolin, ebony with engraved ivory scrollwork and tortoiseshell and ivory marquetry, made by Pietro Antonio Gavelli, Perugia, 1690 |
| Physical description | "Body of nine fluted ribs alternately of ivory with engraved scrollwork, and tortoiseshell on metal foil with intervening stringing of ebony. Pine belly with a sunk triple rose of carved wood. The neck, fingerboard and stringing between the ribs, and decoraton of the belly, have bands of small triangles of mother-of-pearl and ebony in marquetry. There are no frets. The pegbox has seven pegs, for four coursesm the treble single the rest double. The square finial is decorated with mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell marquetry". Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1998), p. 38. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Pietro Ant: Gavelli in Perugia 1690 |
| Gallery label | MANDORE (Milanese Mandolin)
Italian (Perugia)
By P. A. Gavelli, 1690
Inscribed Pietro Ant: Gavelli in Perugia 1690
Back of ivory, tortoise shell and ebony, top of pine, ebony and ivory neck and mother of pearl and tortoise shell finial.
Non-Keyboard Catalogue No.: 8/2
The Mandore appeared in France from about 1580, and was either tuned in 5ths and 4ths or in 4ths and 3rds, like the lute. The slightly smaller Italian version was usually called the mandola or mandolina, and the term "Milanese" mandolin has come to be used to differentiate between the small lute-like instrument and the more widespread and better known Neapolitan version, that was tuned like the violin and played with a quill, as opposed to the finger tips.
No other instruments by Pietro Antonio Gavelli are known to have survived. There was another luthier from Perugia, called Giacomo Gavelli, presumably of the same family, who worked towards the end of the eighteenth century.
504-1868(pre September 2000) |
| Object history | This instrument was bought for £4 - 0 - 0 from the Marquess d' Azeglio sale in March 1868. |
| Summary | The 'Milanese' mandolin was tuned like a lute (and similar to a guitar), unlike its more familiar 'Neapolitan' counterpart, which was tuned like a violin. As with earlier versions of the Milanese Mandolin, this instrument has only four courses (one single and the rest double) and its frets would have been made of gut and replaced, once worn. No other instrument by Piero Antonio Gavelli of Perugia is known to have survived, alhough a certain Giaccomo Gavelli, also from Perugia and presumably a descendent, was recorded as producing stringed instruments there during the 1790s. |
| Bibliographic reference | Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1998), p. 38. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 504-1868 |
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| Record created | May 16, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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