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The kit requires a playing action similar to that of the pochette, and has a similar string length. Whereas the pochette is boat shaped, kits are shaped like small violins or viols. Many different body shapes are known. It should not be thought that these instruments had no serious place in the minds of the players or makers even Antonio Stradivari is known to have made kits.
Kit

Instrument Information

Title

Kit (pochette)

Accession Number

0952

Collection

MIMEd; C.H. Brackenbury Memorial Collection

Date Information

Date Made

18th Century

Period

18th century; 1700s; 1710s; 1720s; 1730s; 41; 1750s; 1760s; 1770s; 1780s; 1790s; 1800s

Gallery Information

Gallery

Wolfson Gallery

Case

Drawer 22

Maker Information

No information recorded.

Made In

No information recorded.

Description

Technical Description

This instrument has a soundboard made of spruce; a back and neck made of sycamore; a fingerboard, tailpiece and pegs made of ebony; and a nut and tail-gut hook mdade of ivory. The back and ribs are carved from a single piece of wood. It possesses a violin-shaped body with f-holes, with inlaid purfling of ebony/holly(?)/ebony. Its varnish is golden in colour. Inside the instrument is a soundpost as well as a bass bar. The peg box ends in a stub, rather than being topped with a scroll or finial. The tailpiece is curved underneath, of ebony with a mother-of-pearl strip inlaid on the front at the top. The tailpiece gut is attached to an ivory block which is flush with the ribs and protruding at the top, the block attached to the body with two ivory plugs. Neck length 160 mm; fingerboard length 205.5 mm, width at nut 22.4 mm, at bottom 35.2 mm.

No inscriptions.

With double wooden case.

Associated with case also containing kit (953) and bow (954).

Current ownership: Government allocation to the University, 1991.

Provenance

Government allocation to the University, 1991.

Classification

Instrument

Kit/Violins/Strings/Musical Instrument ; Kit

Instrument Family

Strings

Hornbostel Sachs Classification

314.122-71 ; musical instrument