Archlute
Alternate name(s)
- Liuto attiorbato
- Lute
- Theorbo
Maker
Pietro Railich
Distributor
Matteo Sellas
Date1639
Place MadeVenice, Italy, Europe
SignedPrinted on paper label: Matteo Sellas alla Corona / In Venetia 1630. [tail possibly added to 0 to form 9, but this is difficult to determine as label is water damagedWritten in ink on inside of clasp: Pieter Rei[llich] / fecit in Venetia / 1639
DescriptionThis lute bears the label of Matteo Sellas, a prominent guitar and lute maker in Venice, but concealed within the interior of the bowl, not visible unless the lute is disassembled, the inked signature of his younger colleague Pietro Railich can be found. This signature, apparently dated 1639, is key evidence that he worked for Sellas early in his career, and he later settled in Padua.
Stringing: seven double courses over fingerboard; seven double courses to second head
Soundboard: two-piece quarter-cut fir: medium grain broadening at the edges
Bowl: 15 alternating ebony and ivory staves, divided by two-ply ebony and ivory strips
Clasp: three-piece ebony and ivory, divided by two-ply ebony and ivory strips; later ebony and ivory strap loop engraved with X by Robert Lundberg
Head: black-painted light poplar veneered with ebony and ivory with ivory binding and ebony and ivory strip trim; two pegboxes; back of pegbox veneered with alterating stripes of ebony and ivory divided by two-ply ebony and ivory strips; later ebony and ivory strap loop engraved with X by Robert Lundberg
Neck: poplar veneered with alterating stripes of ebony and ivory divided by two-ply ebony and ivory strips; neck possibly later, around late 17th century, reusing original veneers, according to Robert Lundberg
Binding: ebony with ebony and ivory strip trim
Fingerboard: ebony
Nuts: ivory with recesses between strings; later, by Robert Lundberg
Bridge: black-painted poplar tie bridge with later ivory and ebony veneered face installed by Robert Lundberg
Tuners: 28 boxwood friction pegs with integral pins
Rose: floral and vine pattern carved from wood of top
Lacquer: none
Bowl lining: paper strips
Top block: spruce, the grain running parallel to plane of back at joint with top; lower half of light hardwod; iron nail through top block into neck; hammer marks on top block
Braces: 10 lateral spruce braces; six fan braces at lower end
Technical drawing available for purchase.
DimensionsTotal archlute length: 1068 mm
Top length: 410 mm
Maximum body width: 308 mm
Maximum bowl height: 114 mm
Head length: 418 mm
Head width, top: 19 mm
Head width, bottom: 78 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 247 mm
Neck width, nut: 85 mm
Neck width, heel: 107 mm
Soundhole diameter: 85 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 566 mm and 828 mm
ProvenanceFrom the collection of Lord Astor kept in the music room at Hever Castle, acquired by Witten at the contents sale, Christie’s, London, 12 November 1963, lot 6.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published References"N. Y. Times Carries Story. . . Purchase of Witten Collection Attracts Widespread Attention," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc., Newsletter 11, No. 4 (July 1984), pp. 1-3.
André P. Larson, "Early Italian Plucked Stringed Instruments at the Shrine to Music Museum," Lute Society of America Newsletter Vol. XX, No. 1 (February 1985), p. 8.
Roger Hargrave, "Preservation Order," The Strad 96, No. 1142 (June 1985), p. 128.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), inside front cover.
Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.48.
Technical Drawings
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03383
On View
On view
