Vielle à roue (1700s): Art, History and Details

Vielle à roue (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pajot of Jánzat (French).

The work and its context

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

The instrumentalist could play melodies on the keyboard that presses tangents against one or more strings. Often there are also multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. This type of instrument is depicted in several artworks in the CMA collection: 1924.656, 2008.34.2, 1960.20. The vielle à roue is also related to the Swedish nyckelharpa, which was featured on the CMA performing arts series in 2017 played by Emilia Amper.

Object facts

• Title: Vielle à roue
• Date: 1700s
• Creator attribution: Pajot of Jánzat (French)
• Culture: France
• Type: Musical Instrument
• Technique: wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 74 x 33 cm (29 1/8 x 13 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1918.378

A detail from the museum

Also known as a “hurdy-gurdy” or “wheel fiddle,” this instrument produces sound by a hand crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings.

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 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.