Portrait of a Iranian woman jeweled and dressed in a traditional gown holding a tār. The tār first appeared around Shiraz and was quickly adopted in Afghanistan and Caucasia where it was modified. Iranian style tārs have bodies with two unequal heart-shaped openings which are covered by a thin lamb fetus membrane, a horn bridge and three double courses of strings. The skin belly is very responsive to the player’s touch and thus demands a high degree of virtuosity when plucked with a brass plectrum.