Cittern, sycamore and pine, Urbino, Italy, 1582.

The back is of sycamore and very slightly arched. The pine belly, also slightly arched, is a little wider than the back. It is purfled and decorated with a squared knot-pattern at the lower end, where there is a scrolled wooden projection (the 'comb'), slotted to hold the strings. The underside of the belly has four strengthening bars arranged in an open square. The bridge and the rose are simple modern replacements. The sides, which taper from neck to base, are carved with overlapping rosettes within roundels. At the neck the sides end in carved outward-turned scrolls.

The neck, which is offset to the treble side of the instrument, carries a sycamore fingerboard with eighteen brass frets. The fingerboard extends on to the belly, with a cartouche at its end which does not appear to have been decorated with any armorial charges, though another cartouche, on the back next to the neck, has a cittern carved on the shield in relief and the initials 'A.C' painted on it. The head has a slightly domed surface into which the pegs are inserted from the front. The finial is a small open bifurcated scroll, and a suspending hook is carved in the back of the head. The instrument appears to have been originally four-course, but has been altered rather crudely to six-course. Two early pegs remain.

The cittern enjoyed a revival in Italy at about the time of the publication of a tutor by Paolo Virchi, the son of a cittern maker, in 1574. This example would seem to have been converted later into an instrument with six courses (presumably folowing Virchi's tuning), having originally been one with four courses (and presumably followed a tuning similar to that recommended by a French tutor by Ballard and le Roy). No further information has been found on "Augustinus" (presumably Agostino in Italian). "Citaroedus" literally means "harper" so this is probably a generic term.

The cittern was a popular wire-strung instrument with metal frets, strummed with a plectrum, and the melody was usually played on the top string. It became fashionable throughout Italy and central Europe following the publication in 1574 of Il primo libro di tabolaturo di citthara by Paolo Virchi, the son of a cittern maker from Brescia. This exquisitely carved instrument is highly important because it is decorated in the most fashionable style of the day and, unlike almost all Italian furniture of this period, it bears a date, 1582. Nothing is known about the maker, Augustinus Citaroedus: ‘Citaroedus’ literally means ‘harper’, so this is probably a generic term.

On loan to the Horniman Museum.

392-1871