Kamānche (incomplete) (1875–1900): Art, History and Details

Kamānche (incomplete) (1875–1900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Kamānche is a Persian term first used in the 10th century to describe an instrument that is sounded with a bow. From there, bowed instruments spread to Byzantium, Central Asia, the Far East, and then to Europe. In Egypt, it is known as the rabāb, a term known throughout the Islamic world from North Africa to Southeast Asia. The names of musical instruments often reveal origin, context, or musical function. In Europe, North Africa, and Asia where contact with Middle Eastern culture occurred, variations of Arabic and Persian terms for instruments are widespread. Usually, related names refer to similar instruments; however, this is not always true. Among these "floating terms" are the names zūrna, rabāb, kāmanja, nāy, and dombak.

Object facts

• Title: Kamānche (incomplete)
• Date: 1875–1900
• Culture: Northern Iran (Caucasian, maybe Azerbaijan, or Kashmir)
• Type: Musical Instrument
• Technique: Wood, hide, and bone
• Dimensions: Overall: 58.5 x 26.8 cm (23 1/16 x 10 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1918.353

A detail from the museum

The instrument's spike would be placed on the ground or today, on the knee, when it was played.

Collection credit

The Charles G. King Jr. collection; Gift of Ralph King in memory of Charles G. King Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art vol. 5, no. 8/9 (1918): 82-85.
• D. S. M. "Exhibition of Musical Instruments." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 9 (1921): 134-43.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.