Theorbo

'A small instrument with slightly asymmetric body and belly outline. The body, very shallow (7 cm maximum depth), is of nine ribs of sycamore, and carries a fancy 'lace' with inlaid feathered strings of ivory and ebony. Pine belly with an open soundhole, placed high, close to the neck block. The thick bridge is placed well to the bass side of the belly. The neck has a raised fingerboard of black-stained wood, perhaps oak, with ivory strips. It is 6.7 cm wide at the edge of the body and it extends to the belly, where it is surrounded by a fruitwood fillet. Plain heads of complex form, with a square finial decorated with ivory, mother-of-pearl and black stained wood in a formal design. The main pegbox has ten pegs, for two single courses four double, the upper pegbox is for six single strings.' Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), p. 33.