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Shell lyre

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The body of the instrument is a green and white flamed enamelled bowl. Skin strap tensioning the membrane against a tensioning ring of twisted plant material resting on the underside of the bowl. Long arms diverging towards the crosspiece and resting with their lower ends in the beak-shaped spout of the bowl. Five very finely twisted string cords. Ball rings that bind the strings together with strings twisted from thick strips of cloth. The lower tailpiece is a loop of skin strap extending from the tension ring to the top, with the string ends knotted into the spout. Two large, round openings cut into the membrane. from Ulrich Wegner: Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente, Staatliche Museen Berlin - SPK, 1984 (Appendix Object Catalogue)

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Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Cultural attribution
Araber
Object type
musical instruments
Dimensions
Diameter: 24 cm
Height: 10,3 cm
Depth: 103 cm
Width: 45,2 cm
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III A 4807

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    when
    Early 20th century
    where
    Egypt
    who
    Araber
  • Collecting
    who
    Wine Blackman - Former Possessors
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Africa

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

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