Until recently this 3ft 1in (94cm) instrument, listed by Florence Gétreau in her inventory of known guitars by the Voboam family, was on loan to the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. It came for sale from a Dutch estate.
The intricate decoration across almost every surface includes lozenges of gilt-backed red-stained tortoiseshell, ivory, ebony and mother-of-pearl purfling and a sound hole inset with a three-tier burnished gilt architectural rose.
MoMA Link
A rectangular ivory plaque at the top of the head is inscribed Voboam a Paris 1699. A similar guitar dated 1697 is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It has its original five courses rather than the six strings seen to the Bath instrument - a later conversion that was its only significant condition issue.
The auctioneers have developed a strong line in classical and contemporary guitars. They sold a bone-inlaid baroque guitar from the second quarter of the 17th century by Matteo Sellas of Venice for £48,000 in October 2013.
Bidding for the Voboam, estimated at £30,000-40,000, was a two-way phone battle.
