Hammer Dulcimer

Hammer Dulcimer

The box is trapezoidal and opens from a hinge on the back to reveal the instrument. The outside is painted in blue with darker blue brushstroke designs. The inside of the case lid contains a provincial painting of children dancing and playing instruments in the hills with a castle in the background. The body of the dulcimer and the case are both entirely painted with decorations, with the exception of the bottom, which would not have been seen. This implies that this dulcimer was intended to be played as it rested on a table, rather than slung around the player’s neck, as was sometimes popular. The case contains three drawers below the instrument to store the hammers, which the instrument would have been played with.
On the instrument, the tuning pins are on the right, laid out in 24 rows of 4. There would have been four strings per note, for a range stretching 2 octaves. The strings stretch across to hitch pins on the left side. The soundboard has a raised gold border and the wood underneath the strings is painted with floral and gold ornaments. There would have been a treble bridge on the left and a bass bridge on the right which are now in the drawers. There are two sound holes ornamented with gold parchment in an intricate design.

18th century

11/13/19 12:44

Darlington probably bought the dulcimer from the Jordan Collection in West Virginia in 1929. Jordan acquired it from a man in Ashland, Ohio.

Possibly Italy

Unknown

Length 68.5 cm; Width 35.2 cm; Height 14 cm

Two octaves

Zither

A “D” written in pencil on the right side of the outside of the rightmost drawer.
A small sticker inside the middle drawer with “2,000” written in pencil.

Presumably the hammers are missing--this would have been a hammered instrument. There is a large crack across the lid, as well as a crack on the left side of the case. There is also a chunk missing from the bottom front of the case
One tuning pin is missing.

This probably would have been tuned to a major scale, as most European dulcimers from this period were.

Unknown

SR, GK

Darlington Collection

Probably steel strings, wooden case and body with metal hitch pins and tuning pins, parchment rosettes over sound holes. Wooden bridges.

Vassar Treasure Room

The instrument was cleaned in 1990 by Walter Burr, whose wife also restored the painting on the case lid. Schlessinger also worked on this instrument in 1941.