> The broken lute at his feet is interesting for its details of interior
> construction. I have a feeling that either the artist had never
> actually seen the interior construction, or 15th century lutes were
> built much differently than 16th-century ones.
I believe this is a lute case. There are other later pictures of
cases like this (sorry, I don't have specifics), with the lid hinged about
where the bridge would be on a lute.
Leonard Williams
On 9/20/06 12:42 PM, "Stephen Fryer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Craig Allen wrote:
>
>> A friend sent me a link to this enggraving by Meckenem the Younger.
>>
>> http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=24901
>>
>> Now I have seen this engraving before but she mentioned a "lute
>> stand" and upon looking more closely I see she was referring to
>> something that is sticking up under the lute between the player's
>> legs. Now in looking further this appears to extend below the stool
>> he's sitting on and I'm not convinced it's a lute stand but instead a
>> dagger on a belt. Why the player would have this in the position it's
>> in is beyond me as it seems that it would be most uncomfortable and
>> the hilt would tend to scratch the lute. Also he appears to be
>> leaning on the table to support the lute and thus an additional stand
>> might not be necessary. So I ask you all, what do you think it is?
>
> It is indeed a dagger. They were very commonly worn on the front of the
> belt, often in association with a pouch (but not in this case). They
> were referred to as "bollock knives" or "bollock daggers," and if you
> think they might be considered rather "suggestive" the design of many of
> them makes it clear that this was exactly the intention. It is perhaps
> questionable whether he is actually resting his lute on the knife
> handle: it appears to be supported by the table.
>
> The broken lute at his feet is interesting for its details of interior
> construction. I have a feeling that either the artist had never
> actually seen the interior construction, or 15th century lutes were
> built much differently than 16th-century ones.
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
