The description in the acquisition sheet for Stephen Gottlieb’s seven-course tenor lute, which came into Crafts Council Collection in 1979, is a glimpse into the mind-boggling skill and patience required to hand craft instruments faithful to techniques and materials used hundreds of years ago. This stunning piece is made from “37 ribs of larch with ebony lines, a belly of Swiss pine with pierced and carved rose design. The bridge is made of stained maple, the neck of mahogany veneered with ebony. The pegs are ebony and the pegbox is veneered with ebony.”
Self-taught by studying, measuring and drawing original instruments – having trained first as an architect - Stephen devoted his life to designing and making renaissance and baroque lutes, as well as archlutes, theorbos and chitarroni; he also restored original lutes from those periods. “My aim is to follow the proportions, constructional concepts and materials (including the all-important strings) used in the golden age of these great instruments,” he said.
Our own notes on this piece are limited to the materials and process used to make it, but we know that it was selected by celebrated wood turner and craft luminary David Pye to be exhibited at The Maker’s Eye, the first ever exhibition at Crafts Council Gallery in 1982, bringing together “Thirteen makers, covering all generations, [who] had been asked to "define the idea of craft from his or her personal experience". Stephen’s lute held court amid a cornucopia that included a Triumph Bonneville motorbike and a Sussex trug.
Ten years after this piece joined the collection, a documentary showing Stephen working in his Clerkenwell studio was broadcast on national TV as part of a series focusing on art and craft in Britain. We can tell you that everyone at Crafts Council dreams of the day we can have an experienced lute player come and give a recital of baroque music for us on this incredible piece.
Dafydd: “I enjoy the historical associations of the lute. The design of this one is beautiful, especially the detail on the fret board and the central hole, the ‘rose’. Now I want to hear it being played.”