CategoriesAntiquities, Artifacts, and Religious Objects
Musical Instrument
Musical instruments as crafted objects, from ancient lyres and bronze bells to inlaid Baroque guitars and modern instrument design.
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About
Instrument makers combine acoustics with woodwork, metalwork and ornament. Flutes carved from bird bone and mammoth ivory in southern Germany are around 40,000 years old. The royal tombs at Ur held lyres with bulls' heads of gold and lapis lazuli, and the Chinese Marquis Yi of Zeng was buried in 433 BC with a tuned set of 65 bronze bells.
In Europe, Flemish harpsichords had lids painted with landscapes and mottoes, and Antonio Stradivari's violins set a standard for varnish and form. In late 17th-century Hamburg, Joachim Tielke decorated guitars and viols with ivory, tortoiseshell and ebony inlay. The German-born Christian Frederick Martin began making guitars in New York in 1833. Japanese makers lacquered koto and shamisen with gold designs. When looking at an instrument, notice the choice of woods, the decoration of the soundhole or pegbox, and signs of the wear that playing leaves behind.