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Guitar (chitarra battente)
Jacopo Mosca Cavelli (Italian, active 1720s)
1725
Object Place: Perugia, Italy
Medium/Technique
Bloodwood (Brosimum paraense), spruce (Picea abies), walnut (Juglans regia), ivory (Loxodonta africana), mother-of-pearl (Pinctada maxima), tortoiseshell (Eretmochelys imbricate), brass, mastic
Dimensions
Length 93 cm, width 24.9 cm, depth 14.5 cm (Length 36 5/8 in., width 9 13/16 in., depth 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Frank B. Bemis Fund and funds donated by William and Deborah Elfers, an anonymous donor, Weston Associates, Leo and Gabriella Beranek, Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser, Richard S. Milstein, Esq., Mrs. Robert B. Newman, and Marlowe and Elise Sigal
Accession Number2003.76
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionArched back comprised of thirteen ribs of bloodwood, each separated by strip of diamond-shaped pieces of pearl set in black mastic. Sides comprised of five ribs, decorated similarly to back. Two-piece belly of fine-grain spruce, bound with ivory and edged with pieces of pearl similar to back; field decorated with interlacing, foliate designs, and cherub of inlaid tortoiseshell and pearl set in black mastic. Carved rose of walnut. Neck and headstock of bloodwood (?) inlaid with interlacing similar to belly. Front of headstock veneered with ivory, tortoiseshell, and pearl, incorporating heraldic devices of star, dove, and tri-lobed mountain. Tuning pegs of boxwood (?) with buttons of ivory. Fingerboard veneered with tortoiseshell, bound with ivory, and inlaid with pearl in foliate designs. Ten frets of brass with sloped strips of ivory inlaid behind each. Nut of ivory. Bridge (modern) of maple (?) with saddle of ivory. Five pins of brass at lower end of body for fastening strings. Fourteen strings in five courses of one pair and four triples. Internal construction: Two lateral braces on belly (one above soundhole). Ribs lined with pieces of linen and parchment from pages of sacred music.
InscriptionsInlaid near lower end of belly: IACOBVS MOSCA CAVELLI FECIT; inlaid near upper end of belly: APOC 14 / SICVT CI / THAROEDORVM / CITHARIVM IN CIT / ARISSVIS; handwritten label inside: In Honorem Conceptionis / Be Marie Virginis Corda / Leni pulsate Jacobus Mosca / Cavelli fecit Pisauri fecit / Perusia 1725
ProvenanceAfter 1725, probably a member of the Chigi or Pamphilj families, Rome [see note 1]. Baron Salomon de Rothschild (b. 1835 - d. 1864), Paris; by descent to his widow, Adele Hannah Charlotte de Rothschild (b. 1843 - d. 1922), Paris [see note 2]. 2001, private collection, Europe; December 14, 2001, anonymous (European private collection) sale, Daguerre Auction House, Paris, France, lot 78, to Alain Moatti, Paris; 2003, sold by Alain Moatti to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 26, 2003)
NOTES:
[1] As suggested by the heraldic devices on the headstock. [2] Inventoried as part of the Salomon de Rothschild collection after her death.
NOTES:
[1] As suggested by the heraldic devices on the headstock. [2] Inventoried as part of the Salomon de Rothschild collection after her death.
Passacaglia, 1692
Composed by Ludovico Roncalli
Performed by Olav Chris Henriksen