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English guitar

English guitar

  • Place of origin:

    Lisbon (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1780 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    da Silva, Jaco Vieira (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl

  • Museum number:

    208-1882

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper 'cameo' in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770.

Place of Origin

Lisbon (made)

Date

ca. 1780 (made)

Artist/maker

da Silva, Jaco Vieira (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl

Marks and inscriptions

Jaco Vieira da Silva a fez em Lisboa no Prata da Alegria anno de 17 [no manuscript figures inserted]
Jaco Vieira da Silva has made this in Lisbon at the Prato da Alegria in the year 17[no other numbers]
1) Makers's mark 2) Signature; Portuguese; printed; printed

Dimensions

Length: 78 cm total, Length: 34 cm body, Width: 31.5 cm, Depth: 7.5 cm

Descriptive line

Portuguese, Joao Vieira da Silva, 1780-85

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

London, Victoria & Albert Museum: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Part II, Anthony Baines: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), pp. 52 - 53.

Materials

Pine; Tortoise shell; Brass; Mother of pearl

Techniques

Purfling; Framing; Planing; Openwork

Categories

Musical instruments

Production Type

Limited edition

Collection

Furniture and Woodwork Collection

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