Neapolitan mandolin, maple ribs, mother of pearl and tortoise shell inlay, A.Vinaccia, Naples. Italian, 1772,

'Body of twenty-one fluted ribs of maple with ivory intervening stringing and a fancy fretted lace. The belly is bent inwards at bridge-level and has a circular soundhole surrounded with a band of tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl marquetry with figures. There is similar marquetry, but of a formal nature, on the fingerboard and the lower end of the belly. On the latter also a tortoiseshell protector plate between soundhole and bridge. The neck is banded with mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell backed with metal foil. There are ten silver frets. The shaped flat head has eight rear pegs, for four double courses of wire strings (two steel, one brass, one overspun).'

Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1978), p. 39.

This instrument was purchased by the museum for £25 from Messrs Durlacher, 23a Old Bond Street, London.

Antonio Vinaccia (active 1763-1784) belonged to a family who made highly sought after mandolines in Naples. This example is a 'Neapolitan' mandolin, a version developed in the 1760s. It is tuned like a violin, and played with a pick. The 'Neapolitan' mandolin enjoyed popularity at the ends of both the 18th and 19th centuries and featured in the works of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).

10-1894