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Rubab

Alternate name:Short-neck lute
Alternate name:Robab
Alternate name:Rabab
Date: 1875-1925 ca.
Place Made:Afghanistan, 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.
Terms
Credit Line: Ringley Fund, 1977
Not on view
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.
Object number: 01502