Bass lute
Alternate name(s)
- Chittarone
- Archlute
Maker
Andrea Harton (Hartung)
Date1613-1640 ca.
Place MadeVenice, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on paper label with cut upper corners: IN VENETIA Andrea Harton.Three illegible maker's marks branded on top at upper end
MarkingsLater paper label on inside of bowl at upper end: LIGNES
Later paper label on inside of bowl at upper end: MARITIMES ET TERRESTRES
Pegs incised with Roman numerals marking their order
DescriptionThis lute bears the extremely rare label of Andrea Harton, who worked with the Tieffenbrucker family in Venice. It was likely originally a theorbo or chittarone with a long neck, since shortened and replaced with a single pegbox. The bowl is constructed from ebony, and expensive wood at the time of manufacture.
Stringing: 10 double courses
Soundboard: two-piece quarter-cut spruce: fine grain broadening to medium at the edges
Bowl: 27 fluted ebony staves, divided by ivory strips
Clasp: five-piece ebony divided by ivory strips, the upper and lower ebony piece wider; later decoratively turned iron strap hook
Head: light hardwood veneered with ebony and ivory; decoratively turned iron strap hook on back; later
Neck: veneered ebony and ivory strips
Binding: ebony with five-ply ivory and ebony strip trim
Fingerboard: ebony
Nuts: bone; later
Bridge: black-painted medium brown hardwood tie bridge; flowers stamped between each course; late
Decoration: mother-of-pearl heart and triangle on lower edge of top, surrounded by rosewood and ebony respectively
Tuners: 21 black-painted maple or other hardwood friction pegs with integral pins
Rose: knot pattern triple rose chip carved from wood of top
Lacquer: none
Bowl lining: paper strips glued at joints between ribs
DimensionsTotal bass lute length: 985 mm
Top length: 559 mm
Maximum body width: 357 mm
Maximum bowl height: 175 mm
Head length: 277 mm
Head width, top: 45 mm
Head width, bottom: 88 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 250 mm
Neck width, nut: 96 mm
Neck width, heel: 109 mm
Soundhole diameter: 33 mm (upper rose); 63 mm (lower roses
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 695 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 11.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), inside front cover and p. 46.
André P. Larson, "Early Italian Plucked Stringed Instruments at the Shrine to Music Museum," Lute Society of America Quarterly, Vol. XX No. 1 (February 1985), p. 7.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03381
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