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Guitar
Probably by: Antoine Anciaume (French, born in 1776)
about 1840
Object Place: Mirecourt, France
Medium/Technique
Amboyna wood, spruce, ebony, ivory, mother-of-pearl, abalone, silver, brass, steel, nickel silver, sheep gut
Dimensions
Length 90.7 cm, width 29.6 cm (Length 35 11/16 in., width 11 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously through the Joseph Bishop Van Sciver Fund (1861-1943) of The Boston Foundation
Accession Number1999.520
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionOne-piece back and ribs veneered with burled amboyna wood over substrate of spruce. Belly of fine-grain spruce. Binding of ivory and ebony along belly and back. Border of belly decorated with pearl and abalone in repeated foliate pattern. Belly, headstock, neck, and fingerboard decorated in motifs celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte, inlaid in engraved pearl and abalone. Neck and headstock of maple veneered with burled amboyna. Tuning machines of brass and iron with rollers of ivory and heads of pearl in floral pattern, stamped Demet. Seventeen frets of nickel silver. Nut of pearl. Bridge, bridge pins, and end button of ebony. Internal construction: Four lateral braces on back and five on belly (two above soundhole and one below soundhole angled slightly). Modern case of wood lined with decorative paper.
InscriptionsEngraved at base of fingerboard and printed on inside label: ANCIAUME
ProvenanceBy 1997, Jacques Français, New York; 1997, sold by Français to Wurlitzer-Bruck, New York; 1999, sold by Wurlitzer-Bruck to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 15, 1999)
Nocturne Biblique, Op. 3, No. 5, 1840s
Composed by Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti
Performed by Olav Chris Henriksen