λ A HERATI BONE, MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND TURQUOISE-INLAID DUTAR (LUTE)
Afghanistan, ca. 1990s

Of typical design, with a gourd-shaped resonance chamber and a long tapering neck, with fourteen strings, the resonance chamber pierced on the front with geometric and star-shaped patterns, the chamber's back and the neck decorated with micro-mosaic of bone and mother-of-pearl tesserae shaped as geometric fretwork bands, pyramids, rosettes, birds and stylised scrollwork, all heightened by small turquoise beads, next to the join between the resonance chamber and the neck a later-added inscription in Dari reading Daud Payin, 120cm high.

The dutar is a traditional long-necked lute with a warm, dulcet tone, usually played with two strings in Iran and Central Asia, and with fourteen strings in Afghanistan. This specific example was purchased by the present vendor from a Kabul-based renowned Afghani musician called Ustad Ghulam Haider in 2001.

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