single manual, C/E-c3 | 8’
6-foot muselar made by Joannes Ruckers. Case with russet (20th-century) marble-effect paintwork. Signed on the jack rail: ‘IOANNES RVCKERS FECIT ANTVERPI.’. The rose with the initials ‘A R’ (Andreas Ruckers) is probably authentic but was produced for another instrument. Painted garland around the rose. The lid is missing, but until the end of the 20th century the instrument was exhibited with a separate lid from the Museum Vleeshuis collection (AV.1897.010). The fallboard is a 20th-century addition. The nameboard has been decorated using printed paper. The soundboard has been painted with flowers, fruit and arabesques and bears the year ‘1611’. In 1769 the instrument acquired ‘nieuw aecken, gemaeckt door B L Cl’ (‘new hooks, made by B L Cl’). Some possibly original strings still present. 42 of the 45 tuning pins are in place. The stand is possibly 17th-century.
Provenance: In 1864–5 A. Jacobs-Wens (Antwerp) donated the instrument to the Museum of Antiquities (Het Steen). Transferred to the Museum Vleeshuis in 1913. It was exhibited at the Rubens House between 1946 and 1967
