Unknown master.
Iran, turn of the 18th–19th centuries

333/795×267×59
Wood, metal, bone, mother-of-pearl

Around 1907, gifted by Empress Maria Feodorovna
Stock number: 16516/122

The tuning pegs and the balance pins are mounted on the side faces of the pin block and the tailpiece (right and left side bars). A round hole with a diameter of 20 mm is cut in the middle of the lower side bar. The sound board perimeter is framed with 2 rows of embedded small squares made of bone and mother-of-pearl. The sound holes are framed with an embedded floral ornament made of bone and mother-of-pearl. A floral ornament made of bone, mother-of-pearl and tinted wood is embedded in the center of the sound board. Mother-of-pearl figures of 6 birds are embedded under the sound holes at full length of the sound board. A geometric ornament (rombes, circles) made of tinted wood and brass is embedded in the upper side bar