Gourd Folk Fiddle: Museum Object and Cultural History
Gourd Folk Fiddle: Date made: 19th century. Object Name: fiddle. Physical Description: gourd (body material).
The object in the museum catalogue
This folk fiddle was made in St. Mary's County, Maryland in the 19th century by an unknown maker. This fiddle and its accompanying bow are probably from the black slave cultural tradition of the American plantation. The instrument is made with a skin top nailed to a gourd body, and was recovered from an outbuilding of a large estate in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This folk fiddle is made of a table of hide fastened with fifty-five iron nails to the gourd body which has two “slit” soundholes, neck of walnut with pegbox and four ash pegs, and a hardwood fingerboard and bone nut. The bow made for the fiddle is modeled after classical bow design.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date made: 19th century
- Object Name: fiddle
- Physical Description: gourd (body material)
- Physical Description: walnut (neck material)
- Physical Description: skin (table material)
- Physical Description: iron (nails material)
- Measurements: overall: 23 3/4 in x 6 in x 6 in; 60.325 cm x 15.24 cm x 15.24 cm
- Place Made: United States: Maryland, Saint Marys county
- ID Number: MI.75.44
- accession number: 316462
- catalog number: 75.44
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
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Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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