Thailand, Cambodia, Laos
Southeast Asian

Wood, metal strings, mother-of-pearl, ivory
19th century
Length: 30 in; Width: 23 in; Depth: 12 in
Chordophones – Zithers

This is a hammered dulcimer from the 19th century, called a khim in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.  The name khim is a borrowed word from the Chinese Fujian dialect meaning music or music instrument or qin in Mandarin.  It is a follower of the Chinese equivalent yangqin of the Chaozhou people of Kuang-tung province.  The Chinese yangqin is derived from the Indian and Persian santur that was imported to China through the silk road trading routes. 

This board zither in a butterfly shaped box has 42 strings with two rows of seven frets/bridges, providing 21 tones and thus 3 octaves of a diatonic scale (which still can be pentatonic if used in an ensemble).  The left row is beaten behind the bridges in order to resound the higher octave, thus presenting two octaves for the left hand and one octave for the right hand.  Hammered dulcimers like the khim and yangqin represent the ancient invention of strings getting beaten by hammers, which resulted in the western piano as well as the various dulcimers in Southeast Asia.  This beautiful khim from the 19^th century has an inlaid design on the outside of the lid and sides of the instrument and is mounted on its original stand.  There is a center drawer where the beaters and tuning tools are kept for storage.