Giuseppe Presbler (German, 1760–1801)
Mandolin and Mandola, 1796, 1797
Both: rosewood, spruce, walnut, bone, mother-of-pearl; mandolin: L. 22 3/16 in. (56.3 cm); mandola: L. 35 13/16 in. (91 cm);
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Willcox, in memory of Jane Byrd Radcliffe Whitehead, 1989 (1989.344.1, 1989.344.2)

The Milanese style mandolin has six pairs of strings, like the older versions. This example (shown at left) by Giuseppe Presbler has a bowlback made of seventeen rosewood ribs separated by bone striping. The beautiful rosette is of parchment and veneer and ringed with mother-of-pearl ornaments in black mastic.

The mandola, made as a part of a matched set with the mandolin, is tuned an octave lower than the mandolin. Its rosewood back is made of nineteen ribs separated by bone striping and it also bears a decorative rosette ringed with mother-of-pearl ornaments in black mastic.