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Treble guitar (bambina model)
Probably by: George Lewis Panormo
about 1870
Object Place: London, England
Medium/Technique
Coromandel wood, spruce, cedar, ebony, ivory, brass, steel, sheep gut, silver, nickel silver
Dimensions
Length 54.3 cm, width 14.9 cm (Length 21 3/8 in., width 5 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously
Accession Number2000.630
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionTwo-piece back and ribs of coromandel wood. Belly of fine-grained spruce. Multi-line binding along edges of belly and encircling soundhole. Neck and headstock of cedar. Tuning machines of brass and iron with knobs of ivory; stamped: Baker. Fingerboard of ebony with seventeen frets of nickel silver. Nut and saddle of ivory. Bridge, bridge pins, and end button of ebony. Internal construction: Two lateral braces on back and three on belly (one above soundhole). Original rectangular case of wood veneered with burl walnut and lined with green satin.
InscriptionsHandwritten label: Mme. R. Sidney Pratten / 38 Welbeck St. / Cavendish S[quare] / ca. 1870 Lond[on]
ProvenanceBefore 1895, Mrs. Sidney Pratten (née Catherina Josepha Pelzer, 1821-1895), London, England. December 16, 1938, sold by Sotheby's London. Before 1978, sold by source unidentified to Christie's, London. July 1978, sold by Christie's, lot 21, to Tony Bingham, London, England; 2000, sold by Bingham to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 26, 2000)
Puck from Fairy Sketches (Op. 71, No. 2), mid-1800s
Composed by Josepha Pratten
Performed by Olav Chris Henriksen