Spike fiddle of the huqin family, with bow. A long, hardwood neck is attached to a hexagonal body covered with a python skin table. The back is an open carving of a six-pointed star. A narrow strip of ivory is inlaid into the body where the snakeskin joins the sides. The two strings are looped into the end of the spike with red thread and stretched to two front-mounted pegs inlaid with strips of ivory and a light-colored wood. No fingerboard; rather, the strings are depressed mid-air.

The erhu is played upright resting in the lap, with the bow passing behind the strings.

The bow (Collection number 5022.1973) is a simple curved piece of light-colored wood with the hair stretched between its extremities.