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Title: Hardanger Fiddle
Date: 1786
Location: Norway
Artist: unknown
Type of art: fiddle; wood, mother-of-pearl, ebony, bone
Source and information: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Note: Used mainly in southwest Norway, the Hardanger fiddle ('hardingfele' in Norwegian) has eight or nine strings, half of which are strung and played like a violin. The second half (understrings or sympathetic strings) resonate under the influence of the other four.
The instrument is often highly decorated, with a carved animal (usually a dragon or the Lion of Norway) or a carved woman's head as part of the top of the pegbox, extensive mother of pearl on the tailpiece and fingerboard, and black ink decorations called 'rosing' on the body of the instrument. Sometimes pieces of bone are used to decorate the pegs and the edges of the instrument.
The earliest known example of the hardingfele is from 1651, made by Ole Jonsen Jaastad in Hardanger, Norway. Originally, the instrument had a rounder, narrower body. Around the year 1850, the modern layout with a body much like the violin became the norm.
Source: Wikipedia
Here is what the Hardanger fiddle sounds like:
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