citole
- Museum number
- 1963,1002.1
- Description
-
Citole, formerly known as a gittern, later remodelled as a violin; wood, silver gilt, glass. The original parts are the back, sides and neck; the new parts are the sound-board with vaulted profile, the finger-board, tailpiece and bridge; a silver gilt plate engraved with the Garter and arms of Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, has been placed above the pegbox. The centre part of the trefoil is a replacement.The carved decorative panels with forest scenes comprising huntsmen, foresters, animals, the end terminating in a dragon.
- Production date
- 1280-1330 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 610 millimetres
-
Width: 186 millimetres
-
Depth: 147 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from Alexander & Binski, 1987, see bibliography:
'The use of foliate borders, the oak leaf panel showing a typical Labours of the Month scene infested with hunters and animals, can be paralleled in the pages of early 14th century English manuscripts such as the early part of the Ormesby Psalter of c. 1310. Analogues in wood are much harder to find. The best comparison, particularly with its very naturalistic early Decorated foliage and figure carving in the spandrels, is the choir stalls at Winchester Cathedral, 1308-10 seqq. The lions on the back of the instrument resemble the one on a misericord from John of Glaston's choristalls, 1309-10 at Exeter Cathedral, and also examples in stone of the same date at Exeter in the north transept and eastern bay of the nave. The hawthorn sprays are identical to those on the capitals in the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel, WEstminster. The sharply-cut skeletal handling of the quatrefoil friezes is close to that on the trefoil friezes of Prior Eastry's choir screen at Canterbury Cathedral.
- Bibliographic references
-
Alexander & Binski 1987 / The Age of Chivalry. Art in Plantagenet England, 1200-1400 (no522)
-
Remnant & Marks 1980 / A Medieval Gittern (pp83-134)
-
Cherry 1991 / Medieval Decorative Arts (pp.8-9) (illustrated and described)
-
Robinson 2008 / Masterpieces of Medieval Art (p. 214)
-
Kevin et al 2008 / A musical instrument fit for a queen: the metamorphosis of a Medieval citole (p.13-27, p.14, fig.1-2, p.16, fig.5, p.17, fig.6-8, p.18, fig.9-11, p.19, fig.12-13, p.20, fig.14-16, p.21, fig.17-19, p.23, fig.20-21, p.24, fig.22, p.25, fig.23-25)
-
Robinson et al 2015 / The British Museum Citole: new perspectives
- Location
- On display (G40/dc3)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012 19 Jul-25 Nov, London, BM Shakespeare: Staging the World
2011 28 Nov-2012 5 Mar, Paris, Musée National du Moyen Âge, Gaston Phoebus and The Book of the Hunt
1987-1988 6 Nov-6 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400
- Acquisition date
- 1963
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1963,1002.1
