Interiors...

Soundboard Painting

There is no standardized method of soundboard decoration. Many instruments have no decorative painting whatsoever, and even eliminate the rose altogether. For those soundboards that are decorated, there are a few commonalities. As shown in the photograph, a scalloped border is usually hand painted around the perimeter of the soundboard and around the bridges and nuts. As you can imagine, this is quite tedious and time consuming. The rose is surrounded by a floral wreath that draws your attention to this area. The remainder of the soundboard is decorated with flowers, bugs, butterflies etc. according to the style of the period. Most interesting is the ubiquitous bird sitting on a branch that has sprung up from a tree stump - a metaphor for the re-birth of life.