Romantica 1890 Antica - - Classical guitar - Italy

Antique Romantic guitar of the 19th Century, Florence Pilade Maurri — Italian concert guitar with original cartouche.. Florence, Piazza S. Croce 6, 1880 1890
Called the CHITARRA CHE RIDE (the GUITAR THAT LAUGHS), for its bridge shaped like a smile.
Made with a spruce top and back and side panels in walnut.
The construction features the typical characteristics of Tuscan luthiery of the era: spruce soundboard, rosette with concentric rings, original shaped bridge and an 19th-century taste headstock.
The patina of the wood, wear consistent with the age, attest to the instrument’s authenticity and the collecting interest.

Together with his brother Pilade, he opened a shop specializing in music publishing and a company for building mandolins, mandoles, and guitars in Florence. The cartouches of Maurri mandolins report the existence of a shop in Via delle Farine, n. 2 and a workshop in Piazza S. Croce, n. 6.

The Maurri firm printed a vast catalog of plucked-instrument music, which today constitutes the Maurri Collection (Ed. Curci). The Raffaello Maurri Foundry was later acquired by Carlo Schmidl in 1923.[1]

According to the musicologist Paul Sparks (1995), the Maurri luthiers are credited with inventing the so-called "Tuscan" or "Florentine" mandolin, characterized by a different tilt of the soundboard and a number of courses, double or single, ranging from 4 to 5.

Very good condition and functioning, with a light warp on one rib as shown in the photographs which are an integral part of the description, and on the back it is marked but part of the restoration that was done and also refinished.
Total measurement is 96 cm, with the case upper width 27.5 cm and lower width 34.5 cm.
Keyboard: two brass string ferrules are missing and one key is missing the button.
A rare piece.. happy bidding

Insured shipping and at pickup I ask to have the courier add the inscription: ACCETTO CON RISERVA
this is for possible damages during transport for insurance purposes.