Lute
ca. 1630 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This lute was made in about 1630 and shows little sign of alteration, which makes it much prized by musicologists and luthiers. Although its provenance remains unknown, it is more likely to have served as an artist’s prop rather than a professional musician’s instrument after the early 1800s. Otherwise, it would all too likely have had parts replaced and metal frets added to its neck. Although it has no label, this lute can be compared with lavishly decorated ebony and ivory instruments produced in Venice between about 1630 and 1650. It is fitted with eleven courses (ten double strings and one single one) and from the early 1600s, Italian composers like Alessandro Piccini (1560–1638) and Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (ca. 1575–ca. 1661) composed music in the Early Baroque style for this instrument.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Ebony and ivory inlay, ebony stringing, gluing of ivory, carving |
| Brief description | Lute, decorated with ebony and ivory inlay, Venice, ca. 1630 |
| Physical description | 'The body is of nine ivory ribs with ebony stringing intervening. Pine belly with carved rose. Ivory lace. The neck and the back of the head are decorated with floral scrollwork in marquetry of ebony and ivory. Plain ebony fingerboard. The reflexed head holds twenty-one ivory pegs, one of which is a raised peg for the treble string. Eleven courses of strings, the first being single, the rest double.' Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1978), p. 30. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label |
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| Object history | The instrument was cleaned by the Museum's conservation department in 1963 and restrung in 1964. |
| Production | Though this lute is unsigned the decoration and ribbing is similar to examples by Matteo Sellas and Cristoforo Choc, which date from the 1630s. |
| Summary | This lute was made in about 1630 and shows little sign of alteration, which makes it much prized by musicologists and luthiers. Although its provenance remains unknown, it is more likely to have served as an artist’s prop rather than a professional musician’s instrument after the early 1800s. Otherwise, it would all too likely have had parts replaced and metal frets added to its neck. Although it has no label, this lute can be compared with lavishly decorated ebony and ivory instruments produced in Venice between about 1630 and 1650. It is fitted with eleven courses (ten double strings and one single one) and from the early 1600s, Italian composers like Alessandro Piccini (1560–1638) and Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (ca. 1575–ca. 1661) composed music in the Early Baroque style for this instrument. |
| Bibliographic reference | PATEY, Carole and Moira Hulse: Musical Instruments at the Victoria and Albert Museum. (London, HMSO, 1978), p.6-7 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1125-1869 |
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| Record created | May 16, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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