Lyre Guitar (1795 AD → 1815 AD) – France [1580×1980]

    by protocodex

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    1. Found on [Artifact Guesser](https://artifactguesser.com), an Open Artifact Database with a Time/Location Guessing Game build on top for fun and discovery.

      Description:

      This form of the guitar was created about 1785. The columnar arms supporting the yoke are veneered in mahogany. The guitar has six single courses of strings. A printed label inside the instrument reads: “Pons / fils / luthier, / Rue du Grand Hurleur / No. 5 / A Paris, an 13.” The phrase “an 13” refers to the thirteenth year (1804–1805) of the French Revolutionary Calendar.
      Renaissance paintings by Lorenzo Costa and Raffaellino Garbo show lyre-guitars held upright (possibly interpretations of incised strings in classical bas-reliefs), as they were properly held by the player. Essentially, the lyre-guitar was a modified version of the lyre of antiquity, but with a fingerboard and six strings. English lyre-guitars were sold from 1811 as the six-string “Apollo” lyre of Edward Light and the twelve-string “Imperyal Lyre” of Angelo Benedetto Ventura.

      More info, images, a map of that time period, and similar artifacts [here](https://artifactguesser.com/artifacts/664c0051b1ae9d19c9bca3fe).

      Visit the [Original MET Source](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/503505) to see whether its on display, for their history timeline and further essays/resouces on this type of object.

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