Quwaytara
Alternate name(s)
- Short-neck lute
- Kouitra
- Kwitra
- 'Ud
Date1880-1900 ca.
Place MadeAlgeria, Africa
Serial No.none
DescriptionHemipyriform body with flat base. The back is constructed of nine ribs of fruitwood (?) with rosewood and pale yellow wood stringing; five of the ribs are inlaid with lozenges in rosewood and mother-of-pearl. Between the ribs are smaller fillets of wood, each one with a concave groove extending down its length. The end-clasp is surmounted by an applied palmate motif in rosewood and bone. A collar of the same materials overlays the back below the the junction with the neck. The two-piece fruitwood (?) table with three narrow bands of purfling and barber's pole stringing in contrasting woods. Tied bridge with applied palmate-shaped piece of wood below. The applied rectangular scratchplate with elaborate design in bone, rosewood and mother-of-pearl: a border of recurring Xs, Framed by a narrow band and flanked by palmate patterns encloses a central frieze. The rose is carved from the same wood as the table, with a design of a 6-pointed star (Star of David) and a series of interlocking circles, with a mother-of-pearl button at the centre. A transverse bar is visible beneath the middle of the rose. A concentric circle of stringing describes the rose, surmounted by a semicircle of similar stringing, indicating either an intentional crescent-shaped design or, less probably, an unintentional error in carving the rose. A small semicircle of inlay in rosewood and bone wood abuts this section. A small lobed motif is inlaid near the stringing below the neck.
The back of the neck and the rectangular pegbox are veneered with bone and rosewood in a herringbone design. The front of the neck is veneered with panels of bone. Rosewood panels inlaid down the sides of the fingerboard extend along the table 35mm. below the end of the neck, reminiscent of the points of the European lute. There are no frets but small lozenges inlaid at the edges, and a larger section of marquetry at the center of the fingerboard may indicate tunings; it is likely that an instrument of this date would have had moveable silk frets. The pegbox is angled at approximately 45 to the neck; there
are holes for four double courses of strings. The hardwood perforate pegs are laterally inserted and are overlaid with bone.
The applied palmate motifs and elaborate scratchplate do not appear to be by the same hand, and they may have been adapted from pieces of furniture. In Greek Folk Musical Instruments (National Bank of Greece, Athens, 1979) p. 233 Fivos Anoyanakis describes how "some of the older lute-makers went so far as to purchase, at reduced prices, expensive, well-made furniture, constructed of high quality materials; they would then dismember the furniture in order to use the wood - mahogany, walnut, etc. in order to make their instruments. This practice was adopted by one of the true masters of the craft, Manolis Venios of Constantinople, who died around the time of the First World War." An instrument which is probably by this maker and bears a bridge which is very similar in design to SMM 2380 is illustrated in plate 87; a close-up of the bridge is shown on plate 89.
The construction of the laghouto (laouto) is also described, pp. 212 to 236.
According to Birley, this instrument is more likely of Greek or Turkish origin.
Richly inlaid and veneered with rosewood, contrasting woods, mother-of-pearl, and bone. Rose is carved from the same wood as the table, with a six-pointed star (Star of David) and a series of interlocking circles.
Tied bridge has series of holes, now blocked up, below the current ones, which may indicate the original levels of the strings. The strings are now strung so high on the bridge that the instrument is virtually impossible to play.
On p. 216 Fivos Anoyanakis gives the proportions normally found in the laouto. However, in this instrument the neck is some 10mm. shorter than the smallest instrument cited.
DimensionsOver all length: 906 mm
Over all width of table: 314 mm
Over all depth of body: 192 mm
Length, base edge of body to block: 438 mm
Length, top of neck to block: 440 mm
Length, block to bridge: 330 mm
Length of neck (exclusive of nut): 297 mm
Length, base edge of body to center of rose: 315 mm
Length, base edge of body to bridge: left-hand side 107 mm, right-hand side 109 mm
Length bridge (end of sounding length of strings) to center of rose: 208 mm
Length, top of neck to center of rose: 470 mm
Width of neck above the table: 54 mm
Width of neck below pegbox: 36 mm
Height of lower bridge: 14 mm
Height of (new) upper bridge: 2 mm
Sounding length of strings: 670 mm
The instrument was measured and the positioning of the seven transverse bars beneath the table examined by Herbert Heyde assisted by Margaret A Birley on 10 November 1983, using a UV lamp. The distances of the middles of the bars from the base edge of the body are as follows: 110 mm, 155 mm, 215 mm, ? mm, 320 mm (bisecting the rose), 351 mm, 396 mm The third bar (distance from base edge not measured) stops short approx. 19 mm of the edges of the table. Below the bottom transverse bar it is possible that there are a series of small bars radiating from a central point, as in the European lute.
Credit LineGrace L. Beede Fund, 1978
Object number02380
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