Short lute ·  India, Santal · ID: 3033792

Description

wood, dark brown encrusted patina, carved from one piece, the massive neck with block-shaped head piece crowned by three stylized figures, waisted corpus with a skin-covered (lizard) lower section, the upper part presumably once closed by a wooden cover, the skin fixed by small wooden plugs, which should have been used for fixing the strings as well, incised decor, slightly dam., minor missing parts (arm of one figure), cracks, on metal plate;
such lutes were used by the Santal, an ethnic group which mainly lives in the mountanious regions of the north indian states Bihar and Orissa. Similar lutes can be found with the tibeto-birmanic speaking people in the north of Nepal.

Comparing literature

Brenner, Klaus-Peter, Erlesene Musikinstrumente, Göttingen 1989, p. 92 f.