Dear participant,
we would kindly ask you to participate in a survey that will help us improve this website in order to create more value for customers like you. We’re interested in your personal opinion. It should take no more than 7 minutes. You will remain completely anonymous and the data will be used only for this research.
If you have any questions about this survey please contact info.web@khm.at.
We value your time your feedback! The Team of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
before 1578, Manufacturer: anonym
In Archduke Ferdinand II’s Kunst- und Wunderkammer (chamber of arts and curiosities) in Ambras Castle, alongside conventional instruments there are some for which no comparable equivalents can be found anywhere in the world. To this group belongs a set of double-reed instruments with bodies shaped like animals. The Ambras inventory of 1596 describes the instruments as follows: “In one case 5 tardöld, shaped like dragons”. The origin of the term tardöld or tartölt is uncertain. Perhaps it is a dialect form of the word cortholt (kurzholz = short wood), a collective term for wind instruments with a curved or folded bore. Sound is produced by means of a double reed fixed to an air-pipe shaped into a figure 8. The tube of the instrument is made of metal and is twisted into a helix. The tube is integrated into a model of a dragon’s body. (rh)
Lit.: Rudolf Hopfner: Masterpieces from the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments. A Short Guide through the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Vol. 1, Vienna 2019
Tartolt
Germany
before 1578
Corpus composed of two soldered metal halves, polychrome mounted, partially gold-plated
L. 370 mm, B. 40 mm, H. 40 mm
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente
Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, 208
Permalink (citable Link) to this page: www.khm.at/en/object/84928/
This object is still without a Art Patron. Accept the patronage and make sure that this cultural treasure is preserved for future generations.
Your donation is a direct and sustainable contribution to the scientific documentation, research, restoration, and presentation of the artworks of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.