Archlute

There is some doubt about this instrument being an archlute at all as it has been altered several times since it's original manufacture to keep up with modern trends. Originally labelled 'Caesar aldana creatus 18 Novemb. 1567', it has a bodymade of twenty one thin ivory strips with an ebonised neck inlaid with ivory with arabesques from the mid 17th century; and a table with three intersecting soundholes inset with a pierced parchment rose, a fingerboard inlaid with ivory, ebony, mother of pearl and stained woods in a floral design, and a pegbox surmounted by a grotesque carved head, all added in the 19th century. The main pegbox carries 11 strings and the instrument also has a subsidiary pegbox with another six strings.