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Diatonic harp

Date1850-1890 ca.

Place MadeCentral/Southern, Germany or Bohemia, Europe

Serial No.none

Signednone
Markingsnone
DescriptionThis instrument is of the general type (usually, however, with hooks to change the pitch of certain strings) made in central and southern German and in Bohemia from about 1800 to the early twentieth century. Its soundbox resembles rather closely those of Joseph Schweiger of Stadtamhof near Regensburg, for whom Lütgendorf gives dates of activity from 1798 to 1830: see harps in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Berlin (no. 2377) and the Deutsches Museum, Munich (no. 5469), particular points of similarity including the horizontal grain of the soundboard, the lack of soundholes in the soundboard, and the ornamental shaping of the top of the external bridge. The column of NMM 10991, however, is unlike Schweiger’s but is closer to the columns in other harps from this general region, e.g., a diatonic harp in the Stadtmuseum, Cologne (no. 84, in Hoyler op. cit., p. 105, where, however, a preposterous mid-18th-c. English origin is suggested); a hooked harp in the Stadtmuseum, Munich (illustrated in Thym-Hochrein, op. cit., p. 91); and an illustration of a “Bohemian or hooked harp” in a sales catalogues of the J.H. Zimmermann firm, about 1900 (reproduced in Droysen-Reber, op. cit., p. 49, and Thym-Hochrein, p. 96 ). Other significant differences (e.g., the soundhole and diagonal soundboard grain), however, preclude a common origin for NMM 10991 and any of these. The horizontal soundboard grain of NMM 10991 makes a German origin somewhat more likely than one in Bohemia, where diagonal grain was rather common (see Thym-Hochrein, op. cit.). Evidence for the comparatively late dating for NMM 10991 is provided by the screws holding the lower end of the column to the body. Two of these - those closer to the edges - are clearly later additions, but the two along the center line are presumably original because their heads were covered with a gesso-like material shaped and gilded to match the surrounding surface. The lower of these screws, seen when removed, is of the machine-made, pointed-end type of wood screw not manufactured until about 1840. (The gesso removed to expose the head of this screw is preserved in an envelope placed inside the harp.)

Diatonic harp, originally with no provision to alter the pitch of the strings. Crude wooden turnbuttons were later screwed to the neck for shortening the vibrating lengths of ten strings, in a pattern suggesting that the compass was then FF to c3, which was possibly the original compass. Body rectangular in cross section, of box-like construction, deeply curved in toward the pillar. Soundboard of spruce, with the grain running along the width of the body; sides of walnut; back of maple, in one piece. The external bridge of walnut, shaped at the top in a curved form resembling two playing-card spades in succession; it is reinforced with brass staples across the tops of the string holes; inner bridge probably of maple. String pegs hand-carved of walnut, with globular heads resembling small peas; shanks not grooved. Body of very light construction, without any soundboard bars or internal bracing. Three round, 33-mm-diameter soundholes in the back; a large rectangular opening in the bottom block. Two turned walnut feet. Column of walnut, the central part octagonal in cross section; the lower and upper portions, covered in gold-colored paint, are rectangular in cross-section, reeded, with a head, rectangular in plan, formed with four applied pieces of ogee molding and topped by a finial integral with the column. Neck of walnut, the strings passing around ivory bridge pins. The wrest pins, of iron, with both slots and drilled holes for the strings; though very uniform, they were formed by hand, i.e., not in a machine-tool metal lathe. There are six old strings and one fragment, as described below on the separate page with the scaling table. The original wooden surfaces of the instruments (except the gold parts of the column) are lightly varnished. The vertical surfaces of the neck are outlined at their edges with narrow bands of gold-colored paint.
The woods of the walls, column, neck, and soundboard were examined microscopically for identification.
DimensionsHeight: 1672 mm
Maximum depth: 720 mm
Maximum width: 336 mm
Length, lowest string: 1274 mm
Length, shortest string: 179 mm
ProvenanceChristians obtained from Carlsons’ Second-Hand Antiques, Fairmont, Minnesota, on October 24, 1969

Credit LinePaul and Jean Christian Collection, 2006

Object number10991

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