German, 1690-1710

'Soundbox painted red and decorated with chinoiseries, and on one side only with the figure of King David playing the harp, all executed in gold with black details. The carved cross-bar feet are in the shape of lion's paws, gilt. A complicated rose of cut paper, laminated and gilt.

The wire strings number, on the right-hand side, twenty-two triple and double courses running up to two hitch-rails placed at different heights on the belly; and, on the left side, twenty-two courses, running up to a main hitch-rail and a shorter rail below with its surface closer to the belly.'

Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1978), p. 74.

This instrument was bought by the South Kensington Museum for £10 in 1875 from the Rev. H.R.Haweis, on the recommendation of Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, Art Referee.

The arpanetta is a free-standing instrument, shaped like an upright harpsichord or clavicytherium. It is fitted with metal strings on both sides and was widely used in Germany and the Netherlands from about 1650 to 1750. The player would set it on a table, pluck the melody with his right hand and strum the accompaniment with his left. It would no doubt have sounded like a cross between a harpsichord and a harp. This instrument is painted with Chinoiserie motifs, a highly fashionable form of decoration from about 1670 onwards.

910-1875