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Guitar
Nicolas Alexandre Voboam II (French, after 1633–about 1693)
1680
Object Place: Paris, France
Medium/Technique
Ebony, red cedar, spruce, ivory, parchment, sheep gut
Dimensions
Length 91.9 cm, width 25 cm, depth 9.3 cm (Length 36 3/16 in., width 9 13/16 in., depth 3 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Otis Norcross Fund, funds donated by Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Fraser, and funds by exchange from the Bequest of Gertrude T. Taft
Accession Number1993.576
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionBack of "red cedar" (Juniperus) inlaid with four strips of ivory sandwiched by ebony. Ribs of ebony inlaid with two strips of ivory. Belly of fine-grain spruce with tiered rose of gilded parchment. Rope-pattern binding of ivory and ebony along edges of belly, soundhole, headstock, and fingerboard. Neck, headstock, and fingerboard veneered with ebony; neck inlaid with six strips of ivory. Tuning pegs of rosewood. Ten tied-on frets of gut and two frets of wood. Nut of ivory. Bridge (later?) of ebony terminating in "moustaches." Ten strings in five pairs. Internal construction: two lateral braces on back and six on belly (two above soundhole and two abutting soundhole). Modern hardshell case.
InscriptionsIn ink on headstock: Alexandre / Voboam / 1680
ProvenanceBefore 1993, sold by a violin dealer, France, to Tony Bingham, London, England; 1993, sold by Bingham to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 22, 1993)
Caprice de chacone, 1671
Composed by Francesco Corbetta
Performed by Olav Chris Henriksen; from the recording "La Guitarre Royalle," Museum Music label