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Rubab

Alternate name(s)
  • Rabab
  • Short-neck lute
  • Robab
Date1875-1925 ca.
Place MadeAfghanistan, Asia
Serial No.none
Signednone
Markingsnone
DescriptionCarved wood body and pegs, the lower portion covered with goatskin.
5 playing strings, 9 sympathetic strings, 1 drone string.

Inlaid with bone and mother-of-pearl, the design on the fingerboard incorporating birds and flowers.
ProvenancePreviously owned by William E. Gribbon, Greenfield, Massachusetts, who purchased it at Sotheby’s, London, 25 November 1976, lot 89. Sold by Gribbon to the NMM, 1977.
Published ReferencesThomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Tibet, Shrine to Music Catalog Vol. II (1982), p. 17.

Thomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Tibet in the Collections of the Shrine to Music Museum, MM Thesis, University of South Dakota, 1983, p. 38, plate XIV.
Credit LineRingley Fund, 1977
Object number01504
On View
Not on view
Rubab
1875-1925 ca.
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Lars H. Savill
1931
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1900-1925 ca.
Lira da braccio
Francesco Linarol
1563
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John D'Angelico
1947
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