Unknown maker / Kamanche / ca. 1880

Unknown maker
Kamanche
ca. 1880
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Creator Name: Unknown
Creator Role: Artist
Creator Name-CRT: Unknown maker
Title: Kamanche
Title Type: Object name
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: 1870
Creation End Date: 1890
Creation Date: ca. 1880
Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Classification Term: Chordophone/bowed
Materials and Techniques: Wood, metal, bone, gut
Dimensions: L. 45 in. (102.8 cm); W. 6 in. (15.3 cm); D. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
AMICA Contributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 1998.72
Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher M. Brown III Gift, 1998
Rights: http://www.metmuseum.org/
Context:

Kamanches, or bowed lutes, are often elegantly inlaid or painted, but this example is decorated with minute pieces of wood, bone, and brass in a mosaic technique called "khatam-kari." First described in the tenth century, the kamanche is the earliest documented bowed instrument and is frequently depicted being played by angels in Persian miniatures. Held upright on its spike, it is bowed with the right hand in a palm-up position, a handgrip used when bowed instruments were introduced to Europe and one still used around the world when playing spike fiddles.

AMICA ID: MMA_.1998.72
AMICA Library Year: 2000
Media Metadata Rights: Copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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