Collection record · Objects & craft
Sitar
The collection record classifies this work as musical instrument. It is dated c. 1850. Recorded culture or place: Eastern India, Bengal or Bangladesh.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Sitar
- Date
- c. 1850
- Culture / origin
- Eastern India, Bengal or Bangladesh
- Materials and technique
- Gourd and wood with pigment, ivory, and bone; copper alloy: frets; iron alloy: strings (with one modern copper replacement)
- Dimensions
- Overall: 95.2 x 15.3 cm (37 1/2 x 6 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1918.346
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
The stringed instrument known as the sitar usually provided the central sound for the musical performances that were a constant feature of court life in India. A sitar, unlike a vina, has movable frets, which are raised metal strips across the fingerboard. When their position is moved, the pitch of the notes changes.
The size of the gourd on this small sitar was selected to resemble an ostrich egg, the material used for novelty sitars during the 19th century. They were mainly for display and played only on rare occasions by a woman or child. Bengal was a center for the production of decorative instruments.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · The Charles G. King Jr. collection; Gift of Ralph King in memory of Charles G. King Jr. · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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