The Cloyne harp

above: part of the inscription as published by Edward Bunting, 1809 (bass end of neck, left hand side): “EGO SUM REGINA CITHARUM”, “is iad so dob. feidmanaig...”, and “giolla padrig mba cridain...”. Click to enlarge.

The Cloyne harp has very interesting inscriptions all over it, in Irish and in Latin. The inscriptions are deeply incised and then the letters are gilded. The inscriptions tell us all about the household at Cloyne when the harp was made.

above: part of the inscription as published by Edward Bunting, 1809 (upper part of forepillar, left hand side): “...OSTRA VIROS MUSICA DEI DONUM”. Click to enlarge.

above: my hand copy of part of the inscription (bass end of neck, right hand side): “an ano do 1621 I^G E & E B ME FIERI FECERUNT”

References

Simon Chadwick