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

The top surface of the qin is made of fir wood and the bottom surface is made of ovate catalpa wood. The cap corner (guanjue), bridge (yueshan) and dew-receptor (chenglu) are all made of hardwood, and are painted with lacquer. There are no tuning pegs (there are no grooves, and the string holes are not straight). The qin has wooden goose feet and mother-of-pearl inlays (hui). There are no cracks (duanwen) on the surfaces of the qin, which are painted with black lacquer. There are no sound retainers on the qin. By examining the nut (or “dragon’s gums”) and the bridge (yueshan), no string marks can be found on this qin. There is a “phoenix mouth” but no “phoenix tongue”. The bamboo nails are sticking out of the bottom surface of the qin. The qin is crudely made, which suggests that it might be a semi-finished product or a ritual object.