Mandolino genovese
Alternate name(s)
- Mandolin
- Mandore
- Genoese mandolin
Repaired by
G. F.
Date1750-1766 ca.
Place MadeGenoa, Italy, Europe
Modelnone
Serial No.none
SignedBranded on back of head and bottom of the body: * [ only on brand at end of bowl] / G [or C] [heart] FMarkingsnone
DescriptionThis six-course gut-strung mandolin is of the type made in Genoa in the eighteenth century. The instrument bears a brand similar to that of instruments associated with Cristiano Nonnemacher, but with the initials G (C) and F instead of C N. It appears that the brands had been altered by someone later, possibly a restorer. A very similar mandolin by Nonnemacher is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 89.4.3509.
Stringing: six double courses of gut strings
Soundboard: two-piece quarter-cut spruce: medium-to-wide grain; break in lower bout; top continues 14 mm over neck
Bowl: 15 mahogany staves divided by maple strips
Clasp: three-piece mahogany divided by maple strips; filled fixture hole on bass side
Head: festooned dark-brown-stained maple, the top veneered with rosewood, ebony, and ivory with ebony and bone purfling strips along center line inlay on top; sides painted black; filled fixture hole on bass side of pegbox; engraved and black ink-filled mother-of-pearl flower inlaid into top of face
Neck: dark brown-stained maple
Binding: ivory with dark brown hardwood strip trim on top
Fingerboard: rosewood bound in ivory; 8 brass bar frets
Nut: ivory
Bridge: ebony
String holders: six ivory and bone in clasp
Tuners: twelve rosewood friction pegs with integral, ebony, and bone pins
Pickguard: tortoiseshell parallelogram bound in bone and ebony strips
Rose: three tier pierced parchment
Rosette: mother-of-pearl diamonds and squares set into dark brown mastic and surrounded on each side by bone and ebony strips
Lacquer: clear; dark stain on back of head and neck
Decoration: mother-of-pearl heart and triangle inlay on upper and lower ends of top, surrounded with incised and brown-mastic-filled vine decoration
Bowl lining: paper strips along joints between staves
Top block: spruce, the grain running parallel to top; large iron nail through top block into neck
DimensionsTotal mandolino genovese length: 565 mm
Top length: 255 mm
Maximum body width: 206 mm
Maximum bowl height: 97 mm
Head length: 190 mm
Head width, top: 70 mm
Head width, bottom: 61 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 105 mm
Neck width, nut: 54 mm
Neck width, heel: 66 mm
Soundhole diameter: 68 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 282 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1980 from Wurlitzer-Bruck, New York, New York.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1980
Object number02743
On View
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