Rare parlor lyre guitar, attributed to Joseph Pons, known as - Lot 85

Rare parlor lyre guitar, attributed to Joseph Pons, known as “Pons Fils,” Paris, early 19th century Antique-style body topped by two fluted, gilded columns with Ionic capitals, the soundboard features two openwork rosettes with floral decoration, an inscription on a mother-of-pearl cartouche reading “Pons fils à Paris 1812,” and a second inscription at the bottom of the body. Joseph PONS, son of the famous Grenoble luthier César Pons, established his workshop on Rue du Grand-Hurleur in Paris in the early 19th century. Similar examples are held in several public collections, notably at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In very good condition, with minor wear and slight imperfections consistent with its age. The instrument has never been cleaned. Provenance: Estate of Mrs. Annick de la Fouchardière, wife of Jean-Jacques Schwing, a Resistance fighter who was deported as a member of the “F2” network in Saint-Brieuc. She was interned, tortured, and deported in September 1944 to Ravensbuck.