Hi Mark,
You make an interesting point. While their site gives a seemingly solid date and English provenance, Arian Sheets noted to me in an email, "As I am sure you are aware, there are a variety of different opinions on the English cittern, its dating, construction, and whatnot. I think the more debate, the better, when we have something as confusing and interesting as this instrument. So far, there are varied opinions on dating and whether then unusual rib construction is a result of repair or original design. [...] Another avenue that needs to be explored is the carving of the head, which may be something that rings a bell with woodcarving experts rather than our crowd."
The case is anything but closed! In the spirit of continuing scrutiny and debate, I will be retaining the title of my page ("Cittern, 34cm mensur, possibly English, circa 1600"), though I plan to update it to reflect some of the more recent information now available (such as confirmation of measurements, woods used, and information about possible label readings).
Best, Andrew At 01:28 PM 2/7/2008, Cittern wrote:
Hi Andrew, I expect they want it desperately want it to be an elizabethan cittern, but it is most likely a restoration gittern. With four double courses and only 8 pegs it misses the triple third course that you would expect of an Elizabethan instrument. All the best Mark -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Andrew Hartig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gesendet: Donnerstag, 7. Februar 2008 20:23 An: cittern Betreff: [CITTERN] New page from NMM on English cittern Hi all, I am proud to pass along a link which just given to me to a new, very comprehensive page by the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota about the English cittern auctioned by Christie's last year. http://www.usd.edu/smm/PluckedStrings/Citterns/English/13500/Cittern13500.ht ml The page contains a satisfying number of close-up images, which I am sure you will all enjoy. There is also a new maker's name attributed to the instrument: "Petrus Raitta." All of this of course means that my own page is now out of date, but I think I can deal with that. :-) Best regards, Andrew To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
