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Double Action Egan Royal Portable Harp
Maker: Egan, John, harp maker
Small wooden harp with double action mechanism on all strings, painted green and decorated with gold shamrocks
Small wooden harp with thumb operated double action ditals on the inside of the column. Curved soundbox (two layers of wood), bowed pillar, low head (head and shoulder are of the same height), string band, string pegs (eight missing), brass action plate on left (string) side, right action plate is covered by wood veneer, grain runs across the sound board. 31 (G-B) strings, the bottom two are wire wound wire, the rest gut. One tuning pin is missing. Working double action mechanism on all strings, the top five have an upper fork and a lower single prong, the next five have two forks an the remainder have an upper prong and a lower vfork, all the disks are slightly oval. Disks rotate in opposite directions to each other (normal for the period). Knob at base of column and matching one on the top right of the shoulder to hold support strap (not extant). Turn screw and lever at base of soundbox fastened and released a support rod that ran through two metal arches and served to raise the harp to a convenient playing height (rod now missing). Hollow column contains mechanism, operated by seven levers on the inside of the column with screw on ivory thumb tags. The ivory tags have the note names engraved on them and are arranged from the top F, C, G, C, A,(E-ivory missing) B. The C, D, and E ditals are towards the right of the column, the others towards the left. The soundbox has six small sound holes arranged two by two, and there is a metal strengthening plate under the right hand side of the shoulder. This harp has no feet. The entire harp apart from the brass action plate is painted green with gold shamrocks.
History note: J.S. Morley from whom purchased by Mrs Norah Chadwick c. 1936; the Fitzwilliam Museum; lent to the Cambridge University Music School, West Road, 1957; returned to the Fitzwilliam Museum
Given by Mrs N. Chadwick
Method of acquisition: Given (1941-04) by Chadwick, Norah, K., Mrs
1820s
George IV
Circa
1820
CE
-
1830
CE
This harp is very rare, only about six were made with the double action ditals, the single action equivalent was considerably more numerous and is well represented in museum collections.
Decoration
composed of
paint
( green)
gold
( or gold-coloured paint)
Frame
composed of
wood
Two Strings
composed of
gut
Strings
composed of
wire
Action Plate
composed of
brass (alloy)
To Top Of Column
Height 90 cm
Sound Board
Width 22 cm
Shoulder To Column
Width 54 cm
Inscription present: Royal Arms above the inscription
Inscription present: tie-on card label, with the text above followed by a transcription of some of the inscription
Accession number: M.7-1941
Primary reference Number: 77335
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Double Action Egan Royal Portable Harp" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/77335 Accessed: 2024-11-21 22:20:14
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/77335
|title=Double Action Egan Royal Portable Harp
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 22:20:14|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-77335
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa10/M_7_1941_281_29.jpg"
alt="Double Action Egan Royal Portable Harp"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Double Action Egan Royal Portable Harp</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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