Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. no. SAM 130
Material: Original: maple; copy: maple or boxwood.
Signature: Two “apples”.
Pitch: c” at a’=440 (both original and copy).
Design: Simple Renaissance form, very short windway.
Finger holes: Seventh hole displaced sideways, duplicated.
Bore: Cylindrical down to about the seventh hole, where it suddenly narrows to a smaller diameter, which continues cylindrically throughout the rest of the recorder.
Musical characteristics: Round tone, secure attack, also on the low notes. Rising towards the high notes, a gradual increase in pressure is necessary.
The recorder’s history: The form of the recorder and maker’s signature shows that the recorder was presumably built before about 1640. The profile of the bore is only found in very few other recorders. It was not until about 1999 that the connection between this instrument and van Eyck’s music became known to experts.