For those not blinded by the Jennifer Lopez cameo at Versace, there were mini bejeweled cigarette boxes on a chain strap (also, a matching lighter); at Marco de Vincenzo, wee sparkling pochettes affixed to waist belts; and at Jil Sander, dinky white leather bucket bags.
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Many fiddlers in the eighteenth century used pochettes because of their portability. The pochette or pocket fiddle was used by dance masters not only during dances, but when teaching as well. The great luthier Antonio Stradivari is known to have made a few pochettes in his career, two are known to have survived to modern times, one possibly in bad shape, and the other on display at the Paris Conservatoire Museum.
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Due to their small size, pochettes cannot be played resting on the chin or shoulder like a violin, and are instead pressed against the chest or along the upper arm, being played with a short bow.
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A common misconception is that pochettes were intended for children. They were actually conceived for adults; their small size allowed them to be used where the larger violins were too cumbersome to carry, or too expensive to own. The instrument's body is very small, but its fingerboard is long relative to the instrument's overall size, to preserve as much of the instrument's melodic range as possible. Pochettes come in many shapes, with the narrow boat shaped ones called "sardinos" being one of the most common, along with the pear- shaped type.
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It is possible that the word "kit" originally referred to a small rebec, which was used in the same maner at the time in England, but came to belong to the violin shaped pochettes later on as it replaced the rebec.
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Due to being an essential feature of court entertaintment and dance pochettes were often made of expensive materials such as exotic woods, tortis shells or ivory, as well as being decorated with elaborate carvings. A pochette shaped like a boat is called a sardino (or Tanzmeistergeige in Germany), while a violin-shaped one is called a kit. In general pochettes have a narrower body and longer neck in overall relation to its size compared to other bowed string instruments, they also often lack frets and either have four or three strings. They also often have a distinctly vaulted and arched back.
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Richard Tobin (1766 – 1847) was an Irish luthier who crafted violins, violas, cellos and pochettes. He was an exceptionally talented craftsman and was considered the finest scroll carver of his time. Despite his talent, his work was largely uncredited, often branded under the names of his employers and other shops that enlisted him for his sought-after workmanship. Today, his rare instruments command the highest prices of any Irish luthier.
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The development of the violin started in the 16th century. "Renaissance violins" of this period are of a wide variety of sizes, from small pochettes through descant, treble and tenor instruments, as a consort. Around 1610, Giovanni Paolo Cima wrote the first sonatas for violin, marking the start of its use as a solo instrument.Manze, p.70 The size and broad design of the violin became fairly consistent towards the start of the Baroque period, at about 1660.
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A baroque guitar by Joachim Tielke in the V&A; Museum, London, UK. Bell cittern by Joachim Tielke in the V&A; Museum, London, UK. Joachim Tielke (14 October 1641 – 19 January 1719) was a German maker of musical instruments. He was born in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), Duchy of Prussia a fief of Kingdom of Poland, and died in Hamburg. A publication was dedicated to him by Günther Hellwig. Hellwig lists the total number of 139 instruments still existing of Tielke's oeuvre, with lutes, angelicas, theorboes, bell citterns (Ger Hamburger Cithrinchen), guitars, pochettes, violins, viole d'amore without sympathetic strings, barytons, viole da gamba, and bows.
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