80 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



An instrument which forms a connecting link between the lute 

 and mandolin was called by several slightly different names, includ- 

 ing " pandora." The shape of this instrument is like a lute, but it 

 has strings of wire instead of gut. Similar to this is the "mandore " 

 of the Moors (95737, pi. 41a). Another Moorish instrument was the 

 gimbrede, characterized by tuning pegs crossing like an X, and 

 having a parchment belly over an elongated body. Two tuning pegs 

 are seen on 95742 (pi. 42a) and three are on 95747 (pi. 42c). which 

 is painted in colors. These instruments were sounded by a plectrum 

 consisting of a narrow strip of bone. 



The Russian pandora is a very old instrument, entirely out of use 

 at the present time. An excellent example of this instrument, from 

 Little Russia, is 96463. There are no frets on the finger board 

 and it was played with a quill. The body is oval, with shallow 

 rounded back and flat belly. The six openings of the sound hole are 

 like the petals of a flower. The instrument has 4 stopped brass 

 strings on the finger board and 14 open brass strings across the body. 

 No. 95259 (pi. 345) has a full rounded back built up of narrow thin 

 staves of ivory with an ebony purfling between, except the staves 

 next the belly, which are of tortoise shell. The belly is of thin un- 

 varnished pine, having a circular sound hole bordered with black, 

 inlaid with pearl, and set with colored stones. On the end of the 

 head is a square ivory plate with a topaz in the center. It is strung 

 with eight overspun strings tuned in pairs and one steel string. 



A small Egyptian tanboura is 95244. An Italian pandora of the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (95251) has 14 wire strings, the 

 lowest of which is overspun. From this instrument the modern 

 mandolin was developed toward the end of the eighteenth century. 

 It has a deeper convexity of back than the lute and was always 

 played with a plectrum. 



Several types of mandolin arose in Italy, but the principal types 

 were known as the Neapolitan and Milanese or Lombardy. The 

 former had four pairs of strings tuned in fifths like a violin, and the 

 latter had five or sometimes six pairs of strings with a variable 

 tuning. The largest number of frets on either instrument was 17, 

 and the strings were plucked with a plectrum of tortoiseshcll, whale- 

 bone, horn, or ostrich quill. An Italian mandolin of the Milanese 

 type (95260) has 6 pairs of strings and 12 frets, and an American 

 mandolin of the Neapolitan type (72880, pi. 35#) has 4 pairs of 

 strings and 13 frets. Special attention is directed to an old Italian 

 mandolin (95261, pi. Md) labeled " Vendelio Venere of Padua. 

 1607." The circular sound hole has a black border inlaid with carved 

 ivory and pearl, and the sound hole is filled with a carved open 

 rosette. The head terminates in a carved ivory clog's head. It is 

 strung with one overspun string and eight steel wires tuned in pairs. 



