Pochette

Dancing was an expected aristocratic accomplishment. Instruction was given at home by a visiting dance master, who played a small fiddle to provide music for the lessons. The compact, slender shape of these instruments made them easy to transport and gave them the name pochette, which suggests that they were carried in one's coat pocket.

Description: Violin-form body; one-piece maple back with horizontal figure; integral carved ribs convex and painted black; neck grafted at heel; crude scroll with one volute; spruce top of fine grain widening toward treble side; single purfling not identical on top and back; ebony nut, fingerboard, stubby tailpiece, saddle and tail pin; ivory or bone plate set in tail; ivory pegs; rectangular patches fill worm holes on back; brownish orange varnish darker on top; crude workmanship; replacement bridge.