Chitarrone

'The date is engraved on a mother-of-pearl heart inset in the belly. Small body of forty-four ribs of yew with ivory stringing between and which a finely sting-decorated lace. The pine belly, carved with a rose, has a heart-shaped mother-of-pearl inset and ivory purfling. The fingerboard has panels of engraved mother-of-pearl surrounded by strips of ebony and ivory, The back of the neck has narrow longitudinal bands of ivory and ebony. The head has similar deocration but slightly coarser, and a section of the neck has been used for facing the upper pegbox. The main pegbox has twelve strings and the upper eight, the pegs being modern, of rosewood set with mother-of-pearl shirt buttons'. (Baines, Anthony. Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum: Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. London, 1998).