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Qing dynasty Qin (Seven-stringed zither-like instrument)

The top surface of the qin is made of platane wood and the bottom surface is made of ovate catalpa wood. The cap corner (guanjue) and the bridge (yueshan) are both made of hardwood, and are painted with lacquer. There are no tuning pegs on the instrument. The qin has hardwood goose feet and mother-of-pearl inlays (hui). There are no cracks (duanwen) on the top surface of the qin (or the cracks might be covered by huitai [a grey coating that turns black when dried]). The bottom surface has a few cracks (duanwen). The top surface is painted with burgundy lacquer (a result of repainting). The bottom surface is painted with burgundy lacquer as an underlayer, and then with black lacquer on top (a grey coating (huitai ), made of a mix of lacquer and powdered antler, can also be seen). The sound retainers are rectangular.

  • Measurements:Total length: 122cm, string length: 114.5cm, width of the forehead: 17cm, width of the shoulders: 19cm, width of the tail: 13.2cm, the large sound hole is 21.7cm long and 2.7cm wide, the small sound hole is 13cm long and 2.5cm wide.