Mandoline

French mandoline with six single strings of gut. Front of fine to medium grain. Ebony edging and single purfling around edges of front and soundhole. Shield painted between bridge and soundhole; blue ground with a gold edge and three Bourbon lilies. Portrait, within gilt cartouche, of Louis XVI wearing red coat with a large Maltese cross-like order in ?silver, and what appears to be the Order of the Golden Fleece. Golden-coloured varnish. Tie-bridge of ?plane with ebony saddle. Ribs and back of figured maple; ribs perpendicular to front except where they approach the neck joint, when they slope in towards the back. Back flat transversely but arched lengthways. Neck and peghead ebonised; 21 bone or ivory frets. Six posterior pegs with heads of modern violin form. Ebony tailpin for neck-ribbon.