Nyckelharpa Bow: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bow as made by an unknown maker in Sweden, about 1800. It is a Scandinavian “fiddle” bow fashioned from one piece of plain birch. The round graduated stick is thinned, becoming flat at the tip end, the last 6 cm of the stick being bent 90o to create a convex stick. A hole in the tip accommodates a fixed knot of horsehair. The hair passes through a similar hole in the “handle” and is knotted to a cloth ribbon controlling bowhair tension. The birch stick is covered with thick transparent varnish. Accessioned with nyckelharpa (Cat. #216270).

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1800
• Object Name: bow
• Physical Description: birch (overall material)
• Physical Description: horsehair (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 7/8 in x 25 in x 3 1/4 in; 2.2225 cm x 63.5 cm x 8.255 cm
• place made: Sweden
• ID Number: MI.216270a
• catalog number: 216270a
• accession number: 39663
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

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.