Please complete the form to email this item.

Guitar

Guitar

  • Place of origin:

    Great Britain, United Kingdom (made)

  • Date:

    1755-1760 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Hintz, Federick (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Sycamore, ebony and ivory, with stamped copper

  • Museum number:

    37-1870

  • Gallery location:

    On loan

  • Download image

The English guitar was in vogue from about 1750 until 1790. It was particularly popular among fashionable ladies who often preferred the version, like this one, that was fitted with piano-keys so as to preserve their nails from wire strings. Examples like this one were also tuned with a watch-key, most often in C major. The modern Portuguese guitar is descended from this type of instrument. This English guitar was made by Friederich Hintz (d. 1772), a German immigrant cabinetmaker, who specialised in making metal-inlaid furniture as well as musical instruments.

On loan to the Horniman Museum.

Physical description

Guitar; sycamore back, pine belly, pointed shoulders, rose of stamped copper gilt with a musical instrument & diaper pattern in centre. Ebony fingerboard with fifteen brass frets, square finial on neck with chequerboard pattern in ebony & ivory, detachable mechanism on body for striking strings with felted hammers, box with Royal Arms of England.

Place of Origin

Great Britain, United Kingdom (made)

Date

1755-1760 (made)

Artist/maker

Hintz, Federick (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Sycamore, ebony and ivory, with stamped copper

Marks and inscriptions

'F.HINTZ'
'PRESTON INVENTOR'
'PRESTON, MAKER, LONDON.'

'PR' crowned
'SMITHS PATENT BOX' over Royal Arms of England and the word 'LONDON'

Dimensions

Length: 69 cm total, Length: 34 cm belly, Width: 31.5 cm, Depth: 7.5 cm

Descriptive line

Guitar; by Frederick Hintz; London, Britain; 1755-60.

Subjects depicted

Coats of arms

Categories

Musical instruments

Collection code

FWK

Download image
Qr_O72665
Ajax-loader