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Cittern (English guitar)
John Preston (English, died 1798)
about 1770
Object Place: London, England
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions
Length 69 cm, width 29 cm (Length 27 3/16 in., width 11 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.1747
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionPear-shaped body of red-brown varnished maple. Sound-board with rose; round sound-hole surrounded by yellow lines. Vertical ribs, back flat except the upper part, which inclines toward the neck. Ebony finger-board with twelve brass frets and four holes for the capotasto. The peg-box of the usual type is replaced by Preston's 'machine.' The neck ends with scroll bent bacward to provide clearance for the tuning-key and is surmounted by a small head. Strings: six courses, two lower ones of spun wire and four higher ones of steel in pairs, making ten strings altogether; lower end fastening (small brass pins in the bottom); shallow movable bridge, ivory nut; frontal type tuning end fastening; looped ends of strings attached to movable hooks.
InscriptionsStamped on back of headstock: [monogram: JRP] / PRESTON MAKER / LONDON; engraved on machine tuners: PRESTON INVENTOR
ProvenanceFrancis W. Galpin (1858-1945), Hatfield Regis, England; 1916, sold by Francis W. Galpin to William Lindsey (1858-1922), Boston, Massachusetts; 1916, gift of William Lindsey, in memory of his daughter, Leslie Lindsey Mason, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 5, 1916)