Bowed zither.

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Instrument

Bowed zither

Instrument Family

Strings

Date Made

Probably 19th century

Description

This instrument is fiddle-shaped with a curved pegbox. Soundboard of spruce; back and sides of sycamore; neck and pegbox of black painted sycamore; fingerboard and soundboard edge protector of ebony; endbutton of rosewood; machine-heads of iron with ivory handles. Head features a metal plate engraved with leaf pattern on the front; back of head is carved into a scalloped shape. Arched top of spruce, 14mm high, f-holes, the bridge must have been set above the nicks in the f-holes for the instrument to have been able to play in tune. Fingerboard features inlaid mother-of-pearl circles. Ebony/sycamore/ebony purfling, with a separate sycamore edge strip. Sides and flat back are of medium figured sycamore, the back of one piece. 2 plugged holes at the bottom where the sides were attached to the bottom block. The edges of the soundboard and back are flush with the sides. The back has two ebony buttons with mother-of-pearl eyes at the upper bouts, there is also an ivory button on the back of the headstock. 26 metal frets, with ivory dot-markers for frets 5, 9, 12 and 17, and ebony dots for frets 4, 6, 8, 11, 14 and 16. The nut consists of a fret with four pins behind it to keep the strings in position. The four strings run over the fingerboard.The machine-heads are all on the same side, the front plate is engraved. The back is strengthened by glued cross bars, and the soundboard has a reverse (left-handed?) barring, the bass-bar on the right-hand side of centre, and the sound-post support block on the left side. Measurements: The neck length is 161mm; the fingerboard length 295mm, 37.2mm wide at the nut, 48.7mm wide at the bottom. No inscriptions. Sound-post and bridge missing. Current ownership: Government allocation to the University, 1991. (C.H. Brackenbury Memorial Collection).

Notes

D. Martin, 1993-94.

Measurements

659

Provenance

Government allocation to the University, 1991.

Collection

C.H. Brackenbury Memorial Collection ; MIMEd ; MIMEd

Accession Number

1115

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