{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O364536"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O364536/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KB8920/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KB8920/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KB8920","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1392","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1393","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1391","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1394","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1395","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC1396","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O364536/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O364536","accessionNumber":"576-1872","objectType":"Long-necked lute (tambur)","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The tambura is a string instrument, widely used in Turkey, Bulgaria and Bosnia. This example, the Turkish version, has a hemispherical (rather than pear-shaped) body. It  has been compared to a mandolin but is more like its long-necked version, which is known as the “colascione”. This example has four courses of double strings and would have been held horizontally and strummed with a plectrum, to accompany singing and dancing.  Indeed, eighteenth century paintings illustrate such an instrument being used, in particular the 1740 painting by Orientalist painter Jean Etienne Liotard, entitled ‘Monsieur Levette and Mademoiselle Helene Glavany in Turkish Costumes’, in which the woman plays the tamboura.  \r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"tortoise shell","id":"AAT11837"},{"text":"mother of pearl","id":"AAT11835"}],"techniques":[{"text":"joining","id":"AAT137062"},{"text":"planing","id":"AAT53863"},{"text":"inlay","id":"AAT53853"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Musical instruments","id":"THES48919"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2017KB8920","2017KC1392","2017KC1393","2017KC1391","2017KC1394","2017KC1395","2017KC1396"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES409022"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Tambur","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Turkey","id":"x29225"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1750","earliest":"1745-01-01","latest":"1754-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"133 ","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"31.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Maximum width of body","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from Carl Engel: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the South Kensington Museum, (London, 1874), p. 208.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This instrument was bought by this museum in 1872 from Abraham Pickert of Nuremberg (1783-1870) for £12, on the recommendation of Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt.\r\n\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Long-necked lute (Turkish <i>tambur</i>), wood, with decoration in ivory, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, frets of animal gut, metal strings, Turkey, probably Istanbul, about 1750.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Carl Engel: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the South Kensington Museum, (London, 1874), p. 209."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fikret Karakaya, <i>Türk Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi</i>, <i>s.v</i>. 'Tambur'; see www.islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/tambur."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Karim Othman-Hassan, <i>The Awakening of a Tanbur: Report of restoration and research into the 18th century tanbur belonging to His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani</i>, published privately, 2018, pp.68-9."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["576-1872"],"accessionNumberNum":"576","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1872,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-04","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}