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Pochette
Alternate name:Kit
Alternate name:Dancing master's fiddle
Date: 1650-1700 ca.
Place Made:France, Europe
Serial No: none
Signednone
Markingsnone
DescriptionThis boat-shaped pochette, a portable instrument for use by a dancing master, has a body made from ivory with a fingerboard veneered in tortoiseshell. The luxury materials suggest that this was an expensive instrument.
Top: one-piece, quarter-cut spruce: very narrow grain; early patch under treble bridge foot to repair wood flaw or damage
Back, sides, neck, and head: one-piece ivory; five facets on back divided by ridges; head scroll with hole drilled toward back for suspension via fibrous thread or rope
Purfling: none
Varnish: clear on top
Fingerboard: softwood veneered with tortoise shell on face and ebony on sides; wedge-shaped
Nut: ebony
Tailpiece: poplar or willow veneered with tortoise shell; stained black on underside; score marks visible on surface of wood through tortoise shell; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: four ebony; concave outer head outline
Saddle: ebony; set into top
Endpin: ebony
Soundholes: elongated c-shape with notches on outside only
Bridge: bone; later
Top: one-piece, quarter-cut spruce: very narrow grain; early patch under treble bridge foot to repair wood flaw or damage
Back, sides, neck, and head: one-piece ivory; five facets on back divided by ridges; head scroll with hole drilled toward back for suspension via fibrous thread or rope
Purfling: none
Varnish: clear on top
Fingerboard: softwood veneered with tortoise shell on face and ebony on sides; wedge-shaped
Nut: ebony
Tailpiece: poplar or willow veneered with tortoise shell; stained black on underside; score marks visible on surface of wood through tortoise shell; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: four ebony; concave outer head outline
Saddle: ebony; set into top
Endpin: ebony
Soundholes: elongated c-shape with notches on outside only
Bridge: bone; later
DimensionsTotal length: 357 mm
Total length without endpin: 353 mm
Top length: 228 mm
Top width: 26-37 mm
Rib height: 9-21 mm
Stop length: 142 mm
Vibrating string length: 218 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 74 mm
Total length without endpin: 353 mm
Top length: 228 mm
Top width: 26-37 mm
Rib height: 9-21 mm
Stop length: 142 mm
Vibrating string length: 218 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 74 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1985 from Bernhard von Hünerbein, Cologne, Germany.
Terms
Credit Line: Rawlins Fund, 1985
Not on view
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 53.
Object number: 03591