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Pochette
Alternate name:Kit
Alternate name:Dancing masters' fiddle
Date: 1650-1700 ca.
Place Made:France, Europe
Signednone
MarkingsBranded on bridge: M.Y
DescriptionThis beautifully painted pochette, or dancing master's fiddle, has the boat-shape, narrow body popular in France in the seventeenth century.
Top: one-piece, quarter-cut spruce: narrow grain
Back, sides, neck, and head: one piece ebony with open grain; five facets on back; head terminates in square with gold-painted foliate decoration
Purfling: none
Varnish: none
Decoration: top, head, and end of fingerboard painted with gold and black foliate decoration; edges of top and soundholes rimmed in gold and black
Fingerboard: ebony or other dark brown tropical hardwood; wedge-shaped; notch and widening at neck heel position; lower end painted with gold decoration
Nut: ivory; later
Tailpiece: none, strings fit through holes drilled in ivory saddle
Pegs: three ivory and one bone with integral pins; none match
Saddle: ivory
Endpin: integral with body
Soundholes: elongated c-shape
Top: one-piece, quarter-cut spruce: narrow grain
Back, sides, neck, and head: one piece ebony with open grain; five facets on back; head terminates in square with gold-painted foliate decoration
Purfling: none
Varnish: none
Decoration: top, head, and end of fingerboard painted with gold and black foliate decoration; edges of top and soundholes rimmed in gold and black
Fingerboard: ebony or other dark brown tropical hardwood; wedge-shaped; notch and widening at neck heel position; lower end painted with gold decoration
Nut: ivory; later
Tailpiece: none, strings fit through holes drilled in ivory saddle
Pegs: three ivory and one bone with integral pins; none match
Saddle: ivory
Endpin: integral with body
Soundholes: elongated c-shape
DimensionsTotal pochette length: 461 mm
Top length: 284 mm
Top width: 28-35 mm
Rib height: 10-22 mm
Stop length: 209 mm
Vibrating string length: 290 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 82 mm
Top length: 284 mm
Top width: 28-35 mm
Rib height: 10-22 mm
Stop length: 209 mm
Vibrating string length: 290 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 82 mm
ProvenanceLaurence Witten acquired from the private collection of Emil Herrmann, New York, New York, 1962.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Terms
Credit Line: Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Not on view
Published ReferencesSilva, Ana Sofia. "Digging the Fifties: A Curatorial Perspective on 50 Objects from the NMM Collections." NMM Notes (October 2023): 23-24.
Larson, André P. _The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir_. Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988, p. 53.
Larson, André P. _The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir_. Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988, p. 53.
Object number: 03350