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Rubab

Alternate name(s)
  • Robab
  • Rabab
  • Short-neck lute
Date1875-1925 ca.
Place MadeAfghanistan, Asia
Serial No.none
DescriptionCarved wood body, the lower portion covered with goatskin.
5 playing strings, 12 sympathetic strings, 2 drone strings

Inlaid with bone and mother-of-pearl, the design on the fingerboard incorporating birds and flowers.

DimensionsLength: 32 in (81.3 cm)
ProvenancePreviously owned by William E. Gribbon, Greenfield, Massachusetts, who purchased it at Sotheby’s, London, 25 November 1976, lot 76. 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. 36, plate XIV.
Credit LineRingley Fund, 1977
Object number01502
On View
Not on view
Rubab
1875-1925 ca.
Hardingfele
Lars H. Savill
1931
Lira da braccio
Francesco Linarol
1563
Tambura
1900-1925 ca.
Hardingfele
Johannes Bårdsen Tveit
1810-1846 ca.
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